Modeling the viscoplastic micromechanical response of two-phase materials using Fast Fourier Transforms

A viscoplastic approach using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method for obtaining local mechanical response is utilized to study microstructure-property relationships in composite materials. Specifically, three-dimensional, two-phase digital materials containing isotropically coarsened particles surrounded by a matrix phase, generated through a Kinetic Monte Carlo Potts model for Ostwald ripening, are used as instantiations in order to calculate the stress and strain-rate fields under uniaxial tension. The effects of the morphology of the matrix phase, the volume fraction and the contiguity of particles, and the polycrystallinity of matrix phase, on the stress and strain-rate fields under uniaxial tension are examined. It is found that the first moments of the stress and strain-rate fields have a different dependence on the particle volume fraction and the particle contiguity from their second moments. The average stresses and average strain-rates of both phases and of the overall composite have rather simple relationships with the particle volume fraction whereas their standard deviations vary strongly, especially when the particle volume fraction is high, and the contiguity of particles has a noticeable effect on the mechanical response. It is also found that the shape of stress distribution in the BCC hard particle phase evolves as the volume fraction of particles in the composite varies, such that it agrees with the stress field in the BCC polycrystal as the volume of particles approaches unity. Finally, it is observed that the stress and strain-rate fields in the microstructures with a polycrystalline matrix are less sensitive to changes in volume fraction and contiguity of particles. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.