An Embedded Microstructural Model for Predicting the Strength and Toughness of Multi-phase Ceramics

AbstractThe effect of microstructure on the strength and toughness of advanced ceramics has been investigated. The current work focuses on numerically modelling statistically representative microstructures and their implementation in multi-scale models. Finite volume based stress analysis is carried out on these microstructures to investigate the effect of individual material parameters on the strength and toughness of the bulk material. From the finite volume analysis it is found that the underlying microstructure affects the local stress and strain distributions within the numerical models. This in turn impacts on the strength and toughness of the bulk material model