Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

The goal of the present work is to propose a multi-scale approach for composite materials which accounts for kinematic hardening in the phases. For that purpose, the additive/sequential interaction rule and tangent linearization of viscoplastic response proposed for elastic–viscoplastic material can be extended in a straightforward manner. A two phase composite where each phase is elastic–viscoplastic is considered. The viscoplastic flow is governed by a J2 flow theory with an overstress. To find the overall behavior of the composite, a Mori–Tanaka model is applied. Numerical validation of the proposition is carried out by considering a representative volume element with 30 inclusions. Various configurations have been tested: hard or soft inclusion cases with or without isotropic hardening. It is shown that the quality of the model predictions is not affected by the introduction of the kinematic hardening component in the local constitutive behavior. Namely, in most cases considered in the paper the overall stress–strain response as well as the average stress–strain response per phase is accurately estimated. It has been also verified that the obtained backstress components are consistent with the ones predicted by Finite element calculations with ABAQUS Software.

elastic-viscoplasticity, homogenization, finite element, metal matrix composite, Mori–Tanaka scheme, kinematic hardening

This work deals with the prediction of the macroscopic behavior of two-phase composites, based on the Mori–Tanaka scheme combined with an additive/sequential interaction rule and tangent linearization of viscoplastic response. Cyclic tension compression loadings are considered to further validate the approach. The composite is made of spherical inclusions dispersed in a matrix. Both materials have an elastic–viscoplastic behavior. In a second part, finite element calculations are performed using ABAQUS/STANDARD software in order to validate the proposed homogenization technique. A representative volume element is analyzed with 30 randomly distributed inclusions. Comparisons between the additive tangent Mori–Tanaka scheme and finite element calculations are made for different volume fractions of inclusions, different contrasts in elastic and viscous properties and different strain rates and strain amplitudes. These comparisons demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed homogenization scheme. The effect of isotropization of the viscoplastic tangent stiffness is also investigated. It is concluded that quality of predictions does not benefit from such simplification, contrary to the known result for elastic–plastic case.

Elasto-viscoplasticity, Homogenization, Finite element, Composite, Mori–Tanaka scheme

This work deals with the prediction of the macroscopic behavior of two-phase composites, based on the Mori-Tanaka scheme combined with an additive/sequential interaction rule and tangent linearization of viscoplastic response. Cyclic tension compression loadings are considered to further evaluate the approach. The composite is made of spherical inclusions dispersed in a matrix. Both materials have an elastic-visco-plastic behavior. In the second part, finite element calculations are performed using ABAQUS/STANDARD software in order to validate the proposed homogenization technique. A representative volume element is analyzed with 30 randomly distributed inclusions.

Multiscale Modeling, Elasto-viscoplasticity, Mori Tanaka Scheme, Composite