Mesoscopic Model Construction and Mechanical Response of Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Magnesium Matrix Composites
Carbon nanotubes(CNTs),as reinforced phase modified magnesium matrix composites,have become the focus of atten-tion in the large wingspan light unmanned air vehicle,new energy vehicles and intelligent medical equipment industries due to their unique thermophysical properties,mechanical properties,and process properties.The designable parameters such as distribution pat-tem,structure and content of CNTs in magnesium matrix have a great influence on the macroscopic mechanical properties of materials.The prediction of stress-strain response of carbon nanotube reinforced magnesium matrix composites is of great significance for under-standing the influence of designable parameters in the elastic-plastic deformation stage.However,the heterogeneous carbon nanotube reinforced magnesium matrix composites have high non-uniformity and complex structure,which makes the finite element modeling difficult and the calculation accuracy low.In view of this,in order to obtain the macroscopic effective properties of heterogeneous mate-rials in the elastic-plastic deformation stage,a representative volume element model(RVE)of composite materials embedded with ran-dom CNTs was established based on the improved random sequence adsorption algorithm.The interfacial bonding layer in the compos-ite material was replaced by the cohesive element.CNTs model in RVE model of the composites was based on the real morphology ob-served by the scanning electron microscope(SEM),and the content of CNTs was consistent with the experimental content.The com-posite RVE model was divided into periodic structured grids,and periodic boundary conditions were applied to ensure the stress conti-nuity and deformation coordination at the boundary of the composite RVE model.Considering the small thickness of the interface layer observed by the transmission electron microscope in the experiment,it could be simplified into a cohesive element grid of 0 thickness.The finite element analysis and calculation of the three-dimensional numerical model were carried out,and the numerical solution of the effective properties of the numerical model of the volume element was obtained.The damage of the material matrix and the interface debonding,the strength problem and the stress transfer mechanism and damage mechanism between the components under uniaxial tensile load were effectively analyzed.The comparison results of experiment and simulation showed that the meso-model of nano-phase reinforced composites with complex structure established in this paper could provide objective,sufficient and real basis for predicting the response relationship between material parameters and meso-structure and mechanical properties.CNTs reinforced Mg-6Zn com-posites used in this paper were prepared by ultrasonic-assisted semi-solid stirring casting.CNTs were pre-dispersed with mixed acid and acetone to prevent agglomeration.At the same time,it could also improve the wettability between CNTs and magnesium matrix,so that it had good interface bonding.The crystallization characteristics were characterized by JY HR800 micro Raman imaging spectrom-eter.The excitation source was He-Ne laser,the excitation wavelength was 514 nm,the wavelength was set to 532 nm,and the scan-ning time of CNTs was set to 300 s.Field emission SEM and Raman spectroscopy showed that CNTs were well bonded to the magne-sium matrix after pretreatment with mixed acid and acetone.
magnesium matrix compositescharacterizing volume unitsfinite element analysismacro effective properties