Modellierung und Analyse von Interphasenschädigung in durch Kohlenstoffnanoröhrchen verstärkten Materialien und Strukturen

The principal objective of the proposed research is to expand the modeling capabilities of CNTRM s considered in the current project (and other composites with interphases) into an inelastic range. More specifically, the goal is to develop a method of evaluating the overall nonlinear behavior of CNTRM`s associated with damage of its interphases. This choice is made in recognition of the fact that damage, particularly damage of the interphases is an important aspect of nonlinear behavior of composites. As opposed to this approach, however, where discrete analysis of progressive debonding along the interphase was considered for representative unit cell (RUC) of a composite with regular arrangement of inhomogeneities, in this work a continuum approach to damage will be adopted. This appears to be a natural approach for composites with random microstructure, where RUC cannot be identified, and it is novel in the existing literature on the subject.

Another specific objective of the approach proposed here is to devise an approach suitable for materials with random arrangement of CNTs and their finite aspect ratio. Unlike random arrangement of spherical inhomogeneities, where the zones of debonding for a typical inhomogeneity can be associated with the principal directions of loading, such association cannot be realistically assumed in the case of CNTRM. In CNTRM the local elastic fields may very much more significantly and it is meaningful to describe the problem in terms of statistical averages. These averages represent the entire collection of CNTs in the material, each of them may have somewhat different pattern of damage. Collectively they should be equivalent to inhomogeneities whose interphases undergo homogeneous (smeared) damage. This assumption forms the basis for the approach proposed here, and, in fact, it parallels the thinking pursued in phenomenological 3D continuum description of damage. The difference is that the averages of elastic fields used in the formulation of the problem are based on the designed, or measured, statistical distribution of inhomogeneities (CNT) and are anticipated to lead to a material-tailored description.

The principal objective of the proposed research is to expand the modeling capabilities of CNTRM s considered in the current project (and other composites with interphases) into an inelastic range. More specifically, the goal is to develop a method of evaluating the overall nonlinear behavior of CNTRM´s associated with damage of its interphases. This choice is made in recognition of the fact that damage, particularly damage of the interphases is an important aspect of nonlinear behavior of composites. As opposed to this approach, however, where discrete analysis of progressive debonding along the interphase was considered for representative unit cell (RUC) of a composite with regular arrangement of inhomogeneities, in this work a continuum approach to damage will be adopted. This appears to be a natural approach for composites with random microstructure, where RUC cannot be identified, and it is novel in the existing literature on the subject.

Another specific objective of the approach proposed here is to devise an approach suitable for materials with random arrangement of CNTs and their finite aspect ratio. Unlike random arrangement of spherical inhomogeneities, where the zones of debonding for a typical inhomogeneity can be associated with the principal directions of loading, such association cannot be realistically assumed in the case of CNTRM. In CNTRM the local elastic fields may very much more significantly and it is meaningful to describe the problem in terms of statistical averages. These averages represent the entire collection of CNTs in the material, each of them may have somewhat different pattern of damage. Collectively they should be equivalent to inhomogeneities whose interphases undergo homogeneous (smeared) damage. This assumption forms the basis for the approach proposed here, and, in fact, it parallels the thinking pursued in phenomenological 3D continuum description of damage. The difference is that the averages of elastic fields used in the formulation of the problem are based on the designed, or measured, statistical distribution of inhomogeneities (CNT) and are anticipated to lead to a material-tailored description.