Monte carlo based strategy to simulate the microstructure evolution of the short-fiber reinforced metal matrix composites

Abstract

In this paper, a modified Monte Carlo model considering two types of topological transformations of the grain growth is proposed to simulate the microstructure evolution of short-fiber reinforced metal composites. In the numerical simulation, the representative volume element of the composites is generated by using the Random Sequential Adsorption algorithm. The microstructure evolution and the grain growth kinetics of both the composites and alloy are numerically implemented. By comparing with the experimental tests, the rationality of the proposed model is verified. The results show that the addition of short fibers contributes to the growth and the refinement of matrix alloy grains. Meanwhile, the short-fiber reinforced phase promotes the distribution of the relative grain size of composites more uniform. With the increase of fiber volume fraction, the average grain size of composites decreases, while the equivalent grain size of the composites increases with the increases of the fiber length.