Dynamic effective properties of the particle-reinforced composites with the viscoelastic interphase

The effects of viscoelastic behavior of the interphase on the dynamic effective properties of composite materials reinforced by the distributed coated spherical inclusions are studied in this paper. The effective wave numbers of composites are predicted from the coherent plane wave equation which is related to the forward scattering amplitudes of an individual inclusion. A thin homogeneous viscoelastic interphase between the inclusion and the matrix is used to model the more realistic bonding state between them. Because the forward scattering amplitudes are closely related to the interphase, the interphase thus can affect the effective properties of composites significantly. The numerical simulation is given for SiC-Al composites and it is shown that the effective wave numbers and the effective elastic moduli of the composites are affected by the viscosity of the interphase noticeably. The attenuation of the effective waves is related to both the multiple scattering amongst reinforced particles and the material dissipation of the viscoelastic interphase. However, the dissipation effect of the interphase dominates in a range of relatively low frequency, whereas the effect of multiple scattering dominates in a range of relatively high frequency. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.MechanicsSCI(E)EI0ARTICLE24-256993-70074