Analysis of the stress states and interface damage in a particle reinforced composite based on a micromodel using cohesive elements

In this work, uniaxial tensile loading was simulated to explain the effect of the interface and varying particle shapes in particle reinforced composite models based on experiments. The cohesive element technique was applied alongside an ABAQUS user-subroutine UVRAM. The effect of the interface thickness and strength were also considered. The simulation results for various stress states (such as stress triaxiality, soft coefficient and Lode parameter) and the interface degradation Scalar Stiffness Degradation Variable (SDEG) were analyzed in detail. The particle shape and interface geometry strongly influenced the distribution of stress states, eventually influencing the integrity of the particle reinforced composites. Particles with a large aspect ratio that were also perpendicular to tensile loading direction were easy to crack, while those with a smaller aspect ratio were prone to interface debonding from particle poles.