Iterative Method to Predict Effective Elastic Moduli of Multiphase Particulate Composites

Abstract

In multiphase particulate composites, the deviation and mismatch of the elastic moduli of different particles may significantly affect the overall mechanical performance of the composites. This study investigates the effects of such deviations on the macroscopic properties of multiphase composites via an iterative micromechanics-based method. The elastic properties of the particles are assumed to obey certain statistical distributions. In the proposed iterative method, the composites are divided into multiple two-phase composites and their strain concentration tensors are derived by means of the inclusion matrix–reference medium model, which is a modification of the generalized self-consistent method. Iterative solutions are established that take into account the effects of the variation in the elastic properties of the particles in terms of the effective shear and bulk moduli. The findings show that the proposed iterative method converges quickly and that the results agree well with the experimental data for three-phase composites. In addition, the model indicates that the variation in the elastic properties of the particles does have a significant effect on the effective moduli of the composites.