An analytical study on the elastic-plastic behavior of metal matrix composites under tensile loading

An analytical approach is proposed for studying the elastic-plastic behavior of short fiber reinforced metal matrix composites under tensile loading. In the proposed research, a micromechanical approach is employed considering an axi-symmetric unit cell including one fiber and the surrounding matrix. First, the governing equations and the boundary conditions are derived and the elastic solution is obtained based on some shear lag type methods. Since under normal loading conditions and according to the fiber material characteristics the metal matrix undergoes plastic deformation, while the fiber remains within the elastic region, a plastic deformation is obtained for the matrix under each small tensile loading step. Then; the elastic-plastic stress transfer behavior of the composite is studied considering this plastic deformation. The results are finally compared with the numerical results obtained from the FE analysis of the considered micromechanical model.