MATRIX COMPOSITE MATERIALS SYSTEMS

AN ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE TO CHARACTERIZE FRACTURE BEHAVIOR AND TOUGHNESS OF SELECTED METAL MATRIX SYSTEMS WITH THE HELP OF (I) SEMI-EMPIRICAL METHODS AND ELASTIC ANALYSES DEVELOPED OVER THE LAST DECADE FOR LAMINATED SYSTEMS WHERE PLASTIC ZONE SIZE IS SMALL, (II) ACCURATE AND APPROXIMATE ELASTOPLASTIC STRESS ANALYSES WITH DUE CONSIDERATION TO ANISOTROPY AND INHOMOGENEITY AS WELL AS FRACTURE CHARACTERIZATION CONCEPTS LIKE CRITICAL ENERGY RELEASE RATES, UNSTABLE GROWTH OF PLASTIC ZONE, FIBER STRESS AHEAD OF THE NOTCH TIP, ETC. FOR UNIDIRECTIONAL AND CROSS-PLY MATERIALS, WHERE PLASTIC ZONE SIZE AND SPECIMEN GEOMETRY PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE, (III) AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON UNIDIRECTIONAL SIC/AL MATERIAL FOR DETERMINING PLASTIC ZONE SIZE, EFFECT OF MATRIX PLASTICITY, CHARACTERIZATIONS OF FRACTURE, (IV) CLASSIFICATION OF AVAILABLE DATA BASED ON MATERIAL AND TYPE OF FAILURE AND, (V) DATA CORRELATION STUDIES. FRACTURE AND/OR CRACKING PARALLEL TO FIBERS AND ITS REASONS WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED. SUITABLE FRACTURE TOUGHNESS CHARACTERIZATION CONCEPTS WILL BE SELECTED.