Effects of Particle-Reinforcement on Elastic Modulus of Metal-Matrix Composites

To study the influence of particle’s characteristics on mechanical properties of the metal-matrix composites (MMCs), A two-dimensional randomly-distributed ellipsoidal particles finite element model was proposed and the tensile process of composites was simulated. The effects of adding proportion, geometrical parameters and attribute features of the particle-reinforcement on elastic modulus of composite were investigated and analyzed. The results show that there are several factors affect elastic modulus of the composite, including the adding proportion, elastic modulus, shape, size and tilt angle of the particles, etc. Among them, the elastic modulus and adding proportion of the reinforcement can primarily enhance the elastic modulus of the composite by 25% - 40% and 50% or more respectively, while the effects of particle shape, size and tilt angle on composite’s elastic modulus is relatively minor.