Effect of porosity on the interface behavior of an Al2O3–aluminum composite: A molecular dynamics study

Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to study the effect of porosity and temperature on a ductile–brittle interface under tensile and shear loadings. Traditionally the interface is characterized by a cohesive zone model (CZM) with the traction–separation law assumed or parameterized through experiments, where the experimental determination of the shape of the CZM has proven to be difficult. In this study a traction–separation law is thus obtained for an alumina–aluminum composite system by conducting molecular dynamics simulations. A statistical approach is suggested to characterize the cohesive strength in the parameterized traction–separation law via the Weibull distribution, which consequently governs the interface behavior of the composite.