Elastic properties of particulate composites with imperfect interface

Abstract

An effective analytical approach is developed for the problem of particulate composites containing spherical inclusion with imperfect interface between the matrix and spherical inclusions. In this paper, a general interface model for a variety of interfacial defects has been presented, in which both displacement discontinuity across the interface and the elastic moduli varing with radius outside of the inclusion are considered. The imperfect interface conditions are appropriate in the case of thin coatings on the inclusion. Furthermore, in the case of thin elastic interphase, the displacement field and the stress field in the inclusion and matrix are exactly solved for the boundary problem of hydrostatic compression of an infinite spherical symmetrical body by Frobenius series, and the expression of the normal interface parameter, Dr, is derived. In addition, it has been proved that two previous results derived in some literatures by considering the interface to be a thin interphase with displacement jump or with some variance in its moduli can be reverted from the present formula, respectively. Numerical results are given to demonstrate the significance of the general imperfect interface effects.