Finite Element Modeling of Tensile Deformation Behaviors of Iron Syntactic Foam with Hollow Glass Microspheres

Abstract

The elastoplastic deformation behaviors of hollow glass microspheres/iron syntactic foam under tension were modeled using a representative volume element (RVE) approach. The three-dimensional microstructures of the iron syntactic foam with 5 wt % glass microspheres were reconstructed using the random sequential adsorption algorithm. The constitutive behavior of the elastoplasticity in the iron matrix and the elastic-brittle failure for the glass microsphere were simulated in the models. An appropriate RVE size was statistically determined by evaluating elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and yield strength in terms of model sizes and boundary conditions. The model was validated by the agreement with experimental findings. The tensile deformation mechanism of the syntactic foam considering the fracture of the microspheres was then investigated. In addition, the feasibility of introducing the interfacial deboning behavior to the proposed model was briefly investigated to improve the accuracy in depicting fracture behaviors of the syntactic foam. It is thought that the modeling techniques and the model itself have major potential for applications not only in the study of hollow glass microspheres/iron syntactic foams, but also for the design of composites with a high modulus matrix and high strength reinforcement.

Relationship between local damage and macroscopic response of soft materials highly reinforced by monodispersed particles

“…In propellants as in other elastomers filled with micron size particles, it is common to observe matrix debonding at the filler surface (Cornwell and Schapery, 1975;Oberth and Bruenner, 1965;Li et al, 2018), which demands to account for a damageable adhesion at the matrix/filler interface. For this purpose, cohesive-zone models (Tvergaard and Hutchinson, 1993;Park et al, 2009) have already been introduced in finite element simulations involving spherical particles dispersed in a matrix (Segurado and Llorca, 2005;Matouš and Geubelle, 2006;Spring and Paulino, 2015;Cho et al, 2017;Gilormini et al, 2017). The account for matrix adhesion damage has shown to produce a realistic macroscopic behavior that could not be reproduced otherwise (Inglis et al, 2007).…”

Particle reinforced thermoplastic foams under quasi-static compression

“…To predict the mechanical properties of particle reinforced foams, numerical models have been created through randomly inserting spherical particles (particle reinforcement) into homogeneous host matrix (foams) without detailed modelling of the porous structures of foams (Yu et al, 2016;Chawla and Chawla, 2006;Brown et al, 2011;Cho et al, 2017). Brown et al (2011) created a two-dimensional (2D) finite element (FE) model to study the shock wave propagation of cellular glass particle reinforced foam under dynamic compression.…”

“…The glass particles of a specified size range (0.5mm -2mm diameter) were randomly inserted into a foam matrix domain (5mm x 5mm square). Cho et al (2017) developed a three-dimensional FE model to study the tensile deformation of the hollow glass microspheres reinforced iron syntactic foam.…”

Multi-Scale Modeling for Predicting the Stiffness and Strength of Hollow-Structured Metal Foams with Structural Hierarchy

“…The above-mentioned metal foam consists of a two-level model: the first one is bicontinuous nanoporous model proposed to describe the nanoscale interactions in the shell, another is hollow sphere-packing model representing the micrometre-scale geometrical structure of bulk foam. A common computational simulation method to investigate the mechanical properties of foams is finite elements method (FEM) [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], in which the geometries are generated from nanoscale/microscale resolution X-ray computed tomography (nano-CT or micro-CT) [ 21 , 22 ], focused ion beam scanning electron microscopes (FIB-SEM) [ 23 , 24 ], phase field method [ 28 ], and some of modeling software [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. Moreover, molecular dynamics also is a powerful tool to describe the movements of atoms or molecules in a large system to obtain the physical properties for nanoporous metals [ 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”