Automatic voxel-based generation of 3D microstructural FE models and its application to the damage analysis of composites

A method and a program for the automatic reconstruction and generation of 3D microstructures of composites on the basis of voxel array data have been developed and tested. Different methods of reconstruction and generation of finite element models of 3D microstructures of composite materials (geometry-based and voxel array based) are discussed and compared. With the use of the developed program, the deformation and damage evolution in composites with random and graded microstructures were numerically simulated. The tensile stress–strain curves, fraction of failed elements, and stress, strain and damage distributions at different stages of loading were determined for different random microstructures of the composites. It was shown that the stiffness, peak and yield stresses of a graded composite decrease with increasing the sharpness of the transition zone between the region of high volume content of the hard phase and the reinforcement free region. The critical applied strain, at which the intensive damage growth begins, is decreasing with increasing the volume content of the hard phase of the composite.