Three-dimensional microstructure modeling of particulate composites using statistical synthetic structure and its thermo-mechanical finite element analysis.

The mechanical and thermal properties of a particulate composite are generally dependent on its microstructure. In the present work, statistical synthetic structures are built to represent three-dimensional microstructure of SiC particle-reinforced Al composites. The statistical parameters are referred to the previous literature and our experimental data. Thermo-mechanical finite element analysis is performed to predict the Young’s modulus and thermal expansion coefficient, which are in good agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, the irregular distribution of stress and strain from statistical synthetic models provides better qualitative description compared to other artificially synthesized models, such as unit cell models. Considering the accuracy, flexibility, and cost of the statistical synthetic model, we confirm that this model has high potential as an efficient modeling scheme for a wide range of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]