A Meso-Mechanical Constitutive Model of Particle-Reinforced Titanium Matrix Composites at High Temperatures

Abstract

The elastoplastic properties of TiC particle-reinforced titanium matrix composites (TiC/TMCs) at high temperatures were examined by quasi-static tensile experiments. The specimens were stretched at 300 °C, 560 °C, and 650 °C, respectively at a strain rate of 0.001/s. scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation was carried out to reveal the microstructure of each specimen tested at different temperatures. The mechanical behavior of TiC/TMCs was analyzed by considering interfacial debonding afterwards. Based on Eshelby’s equivalent inclusion theory and Mori-Tanaka’s concept of average stress in the matrix, the stress or strain of the matrix, the particles, and the effective stiffness tensor of the composite were derived under prescribed traction boundary conditions at high temperatures. The plastic strains due to the thermal mismatch between the matrix and the reinforced particles were considered as eigenstrains. The interfacial debonding was calculated by the tensile strength of the particles and debonding probability was described by Weibull distribution. Finally, a meso-mechanical constitutive model was presented to explore the high-temperature elastoplastic properties of the spherical particle-reinforced titanium matrix composites by using a secant modulus method for the interfacial debonding.