Thermo-elastic, properties of heterogeneous materials with imperfect interfaces: Generalized Levin's formula and Hill's connections

We study the thermo-elastic properties of heterogeneous materials containing spherical particles or cylindrical fibres. The interface between the matrix and second-phase inhomogeneity is imperfect with either the displacement or the stress experiencing a jump across it. We relate the effective coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) to the effective elastic moduli and thereby generalize Levin's formula, and reveal two connections among the effective elastic moduli, thereby generalizing Hill's connections. In contrast to the classical results, the effective CTE in the presence of an imperfect interface is strongly dependent on the size of the inhomogeneity, besides the interface elastic and thermo-elastic properties. This size dependence has been accurately captured by simple scaling laws. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.