A micromechanical model of particle-reinforced metal matrix composites considering particle size and damage

The strengthening behavior of particle-reinforced metal matrix composites is mainly due to the load transfer and the dislocation strengthening effects. To account for both effects in a unified way a hybrid model is proposed by modifying the tangent-based homogenization method with incorporation of dislocation strengthening. By making use of this hybrid model, the nonlinear behavior of the composite in uniaxial tension is dependent on the particle size as well as particle volume fraction. In addition, in order to consider the influence of damage on the stress–strain behavior of the composites, a Weibull function for damage evolution is coupled with the hybrid model. The predictions of the aforementioned methods were compared with the experimental results from the literature, and good agreement was achieved.