Micro-Computed Tomography as a Tool to Investigate the Deformation Behavior of Particulate-Filled Composite Materials

Abstract

Micro-computed tomography (CT) was used as a tool to investigate the deformation behavior of particulate-filled composite materials. Three different shapes of glass fillers (spherical, flake, and fiber) and filler mass fractions (5%, 10%, and 15%) were introduced to the epoxy resin. Rockwell hardness H scale indentation test was used to deform the composite material. The composite materials were scanned before and after the indentation test by using micro-CT. Displacement field for each filler type and mass fraction were measured through correlation of before and after scan data. The effects of filler type and mass fraction on the internal displacement field were investigated. It was also demonstrated that micro-CT can be used as a tool to create realistic representative volume elements (RVEs) for particulate-filled composite materials instead of randomly distributed particles within the matrix material.