A Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Particle Shape and Size on the Indentation Behaviour of Composite Materials
AbstractParticulate-filled epoxy materials are widely used in engineering applications such as coating of large diameter marine pipes, petroleum tanks, and slide bearing applications [1, 2]. In such applications, the hardness of materials is an important mechanical property and which is related to abrasion of the materials [2]. Thus, the effect of particle shape and size on the hardness of the materials should be investigated. In this study, two different particle shapes (irregular, spherical) were considered. Such particles were introduced to epoxy resin with mass fraction of 5%, 10% and 15%. The 3-D distributions of glass fillers in epoxy resin were reconstructed using micro-CT (computed tomography), shown in Figure 1(a). The finite element model based on the micro-CT data are represented in Figure 1(b). In addition, the Random Sequential Adsorption (RSA) algorithm was used to distribute the spherical and irregular-shaped filler randomly inside matrix material. Numerical results based on micro-CT data and RSA algorithm were compared to each other and the experimental results. The effect of surface area on the plastic deformation was also investigated. The shape and the average surface area of the particles are given in Figure 2 The calculation of the surface area was based on the micro-CT data.