Numerical study of the influence of particle-cracking to the damage of MMC by the incremental damage theory

Based on the incremental damage theory, the influences of particle-cracking damage and its residue strengthening capacity on the stress–strain response of particle reinforced (metal matrix composite) MMC under uniaxial tension are carefully investigated in this paper. Two kinds of models are adopted in the numerical calculation to predict the damage evolution of MMC, one is modeling the broken particles as voids and the other is considering the remaining load carrying capacity of the damaged particles. Special emphasis is placed on the detailed comparison between the results predicted by the two models under different parameters such as the aspect ratio, volume fraction of particle and the elastic–plasticity properties of matrix. The damage process of MMC and the development of stress in the particles are predicted by two models and carefully analyzed.