Effective bulk moduli of materials containing stochastically distributed nano‐inhomogeneities with surface stresses

Abstract

AbstractIn the present contribution, a mathematical model for the investigation of the effective properties of a material with randomly distributed nano‐particles is proposed. The surface effect is introduced via Gurtin‐Murdoch equations describing properties of the matrix/nano‐particle interface. They are added to the system of stochastic differential equations formulated within the framework of linear elasticity. The homogenization problem is reduced to finding a statistically averaged solution of the system of stochastic differential equations. These equations are based on the fundamental equations of linear elasticity, which are coupled with surface/interface elasticity accounting for the presence of surface tension. Using Green's function this system is transformed to a system of statistically non‐linear integral equations. It is solved by the method of conditional moments. Closed‐form expressions are derived for the effective moduli of a composite consisting of a matrix with randomly distributed spherical inhomogeneities. The radius of the nano‐particles is included in the expression for the bulk moduli. As numerical examples, nano‐porous aluminum and nano‐porous gold are investigated assuming that only the influence of the interface effects on the effective bulk modulus is of interest. The dependence of the normalized bulk moduli of nano‐porous aluminum on the pore volume fraction (for certain radii of nano‐pores) are compared to and discussed in the context of other theoretical predictions. The effective Young's modulus of nano‐porous gold as a function of pore radius (for fixed void volume fraction) and the normalized Young's modulus vs. the pore volume fraction for different pore radii are analyzed. (© 2014 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)