Microstructure based three-dimensional finite element modeling of particulate reinforced metal–matrix composites

The elastic–plastic response of a metal–matrix composite (MMC) consisting of a AA6061-T6 aluminium matrix reinforced with 20 vol.% Al2O3 particles was modeled using the finite element method. As input for the model, a real three-dimensional (3D) microstructure obtained by holotomography was used. The macroscopic behavior of the composite was obtained by multi-scale modeling based on a window-averaging and extrapolation technique. Model compression stress–strain curves obtained for a cubical volume of edge length 9–10 times larger than the two-point correlation length of the matrix show satisfactory agreement with experimental data.