Microstructure-based stress analysis and evaluation for porous ceramics by homogenization method with digital image-based modeling

Multi-scale analysis using the asymptotic homogenization method is becoming a matter of concern for microstructural design and analysis of advanced heterogeneous materials. One of the problems is the lack of the experimental verification of the multi-scale analysis. Hence, it is applied to the porous alumina with needle-like pores to compare the predicted homogenized properties with the experimental result. The complex and random microstructure was modeled three-dimensionally with the help of the digital image-based modeling technique. An appropriate size of the unit microstructure model was investigated. The predicted elastic properties agreed quite well with the measured values. Next, a four-point bending test was simulated and finally the microscopic stress distribution was predicted. However, it was very hard to evaluate the calculated microscopic stress quantitatively. Therefore, a numerical algorithm to help understanding the three-dimensional and complex stress distribution in the random porous microstructure is proposed. An original histogram display of the stress distribution is shown to be effective to evaluate the stress concentration in, the porous materials. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.