The Minimum Representative Volume Element Size for Coefficient of Thermal Expansion of Particle Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract

A 3D realistic microstructure based computational homogenization model is proposed, in order to determine the temperature dependent effective coefficient of thermal expansion of particle reinforced metal matrix composites The model employed three-dimensional realistic microstructures with different domain sizes, where particles had random shape, sharp edges and were randomly distributed. The unit cell microstructure based model and classical analytical models were also presented for comparison. As an illustration of the model, a 17% vol. SiCpreinforced 2124Al composite was investigated. Its minimum RVE size is found to beδ= 15, whereδis called the size ratio and defined by the ratio between the side length of microstructure and the mean particle radius.