Effect of residual interface stress on effective thermal expansion coefficient of particle-filled thermoelastic nanocomposite

Abstract

The surface/interface energy theory based on three configurations proposed by Huang et al. is used to study the effective properties of thermoelastic nanocomposites. The particular emphasis is placed on the discussion of the influence of the residual interface stress on the thermal expansion coefficient of a thermoelastic composite filled with nanoparticles. First, the thermo-elastic interface constitutive relations expressed in terms of the first Piola-Kirchhoff interface stress and the Lagrangian description of the generalized Young-Laplace equation are presented. Second, the Hashin’s composite sphere assemblage (CSA) is taken as the representative volume element (RVE), and the residual elastic field induced by the residual interface stress in this CSA at reference configuration is determined. Elastic deformations in the CSA from the reference configuration to the current configuration are calculated. From the above calculations, analytical expressions of the effective bulk modulus and the effective thermal expansion coefficient of thermoelastic composite are derived. It is shown that the residual interface stress has a significant effect on the thermal expansion properties of thermoelastic nanocomposites.