Simulation of ductile crack propagation in metal matrix composites ‐ Comparison with cyclic experiments

The efficient operation of mechanized tunnel drilling machines is strongly determined by the wear resistance of the applied mining tools. Especially in chisels, but also partly in cutting disks, metal matrix composites are used. Their wear mechanism is dominated by surface spalling, i.e. subcritical crack propagation through the material's microstructure, mainly consisting of a ductile metal matrix and carbide inclusions. Since this process is primarily governed by the morphology of the microstructure and the mechanical behavior of the individual phases, simulations at the microscale enable the design of improved materials. In this contribution, a method for the modeling of this process is presented. The approach is based on the eigenerosion framework introduced in [1] and an algorithmic scheme for large strains is given, which extends the small strain implementation in [2]. For the phases at the microscale, the finite strain plasticity formulation [3] is applied. Examples according to [4] are shown in order to demonstrate the mesh independence of the framework for ductile crack propagation. Furthermore, simulations are carried out on the microscale by applying the Finite Cell Method [5] on metal matrix composite microstructures. Here, a specific cell arrangement is constructed which minimizes the required number of cells for a given microstructure morphology. Additionally, an experimental setup for the validation of the eigenerosion framework on the microscale is presented. By evaluating the results of these simulations, failure of the material can be investigated on a microscopic level and improvements of the material morphology regarding wear can be realized.