Failure and reliability study in particle-reinforced composite material

• Main Author: Tan, Yi Hong.
• Other Authors: Xiao Zhongmin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Composite materials; DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Testing of materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/42903
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This project mainly presented a methodology to study the reliability of particle-reinforced composite through prediction of material failure behaviour in opening mode, mode-I when subjected to distributed tensile loading along the material boundary. A two-dimensional (2-D) simulation was employed to investigate the impact on primary failure characteristic, stress intensity factor (SIF) at crack tip, in the presence of soft and rigid dispersed fiber particle embedded within matrix material at various sizes and distances ahead of crack tip. Numerical experimental results had proven that the ability to inhibit fatigue crack propagation was strongly dependent on the fiber-matrix elastic modulus strength and varied sizes of the embedded particles. Finite element was also employed to study the impact on SIF and material plasticity behaviour within vicinity of crack tip in presence of crack branching at various orientations under plane strain conditions. The simulated results had proven material failure in this manner usually took place in fast unstable crack growth behaviour with matrix scale yielding developing at crack tip. It was also validated that when crack branched at increasing orientation, the elongation of linear crack reduces while elongation of branched crack increases.