Modelling of the damage process of interfaces inside the WC/Co composite microstructure: 2-D versus 3-D modelling technique

The paper relates to a numerical analysis of the damage process of interface inside the WC/Co composite microstructure under tensile load by the finite element method. The focus is on comparing two modelling techniques for the damage process of interface material: flat (2-D) modelling and three-dimensional (3-D) modelling of RVEs. The damage process of metallic interface inside the Co composite is described by XFEM (eXtended Finite Element Method), based on a cohesive traction-separation law. The applied numerical tool is the commercial ABAQUS® package, where the non-linear problem is solved by the Newton-Raphson method. The use of 3-D modelling to describe the failure of WC/Co composite metallic interface enabled investigation of the damage process, starting from the moment of damage initiation to the total loss of rigidity of interface elements in a vast area of the examined microstructure.