Thermal Failure of Composites under Heat Flow

Abstract

In this paper, theoretical investigation to predict the overall failure condition of particulate-reinforced composites due to thermal stress is presented assuming that the composite fails by yielding. The composite is subject to heat flux which becomes uniform at infinity. The thermal stress for a single inclusion problem is solved first and this solution is used to estimate the thermal stress for the composite with multiple inclusions by replacing the properties of the matrix by those of the composite. The maximum von Mises stress is computed at the interface of the inclusion and the matrix to derive the overall failure criterion of the composite.