Estimating Mechanical Properties of Bi-continuous Two-Phase Composites forOptimised Multi-functionality

摘要

Composites with multiple (bi-) interpenetrating phases are ideally placed to realise multi-functionality and certain multi-functional and smart materials may be modeled as bi-continuous two-phase composites. This paper estimates the mechanical properties of such materials using finite element analysis and homogenization. The effect of phase volume fraction and contiguity on the properties is investigated for a range of microstructures with triply periodic minimal P interfaces between the two phases. The results show that the properties of the composite depend on not only the overall volume fraction but also the contiguity of the constituent phases.