Practical Micromechanics of Composite Materials provides an accessible treatment of micromechanical theories for the analysis and design of multi-phased composites. Written with both students and practitioners in mind and coupled with a fully functional MATLAB code to enable the solution of technologically relevant micromechanics problems, the book features an array of illustrative example problems and exercises highlighting key concepts and integrating the MATLAB code. The MATLAB scripts and functions empower readers to enhance and create new functionality tailored to their needs, and the book and code highly complement one another. The book presents classical lamination theory and then proceeds to describe how to obtain effective anisotropic properties of a unidirectional composite (ply) via micromechanics and multiscale analysis. Calculation of local fields via mechanical and thermal strain concentration tensors is presented in a unified way across several micromechanics theories. The importance of these local fields is demonstrated through the determination of consistent Margins of Safety (MoS) and failure envelopes for thermal and mechanical loading. Finally, micromechanics-based multiscale progressive damage is discussed and implemented in the accompanying MATLAB code.

With composites under increasing use in industry to replace traditional materials in components and structures, the modeling of composite performance, damage and failure has never been more important. Micromechanics of Composite Materials: A Generalized Multiscale Analysis Approach brings together comprehensive background information on the multiscale nature of the composite, constituent material behaviour, damage models and key techniques for multiscale modelling, as well as presenting the findings and methods, developed over a lifetime's research, of three leading experts in the field. The unified approach presented in the book for conducting multiscale analysis and design of conventional and smart composite materials is also applicable for structures with complete linear and nonlinear material behavior, with numerous applications provided to illustrate use. Modeling composite behaviour is a key challenge in research and industry; when done efficiently and reliably it can save money, decrease time to market with new innovations and prevent component failure. This book provides the tools and knowledge from leading micromechanics research, allowing researchers and senior engineers within academia and industry with to improve results and streamline development workflows.

This report summarizes the results of a numerical investigation into the spallation mechanism in plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings observed under spatially-uniform cyclic thermal loading. The analysis focuses on the evolution of local stress and inelastic strain fields in the vicinity of the rough top/bond coat interface during thermal cycling, and how these fields are influenced by the presence of an oxide film and spatially uniform and graded distributions of alumina particles in the metallic bond coat aimed at reducing the top/bond coat thermal expansion mismatch. The impact of these factors on the potential growth of a local horizontal delamination at the rough interface's crest is included. The analysis is conducted using the Higher-Order Theory for Functionally Graded Materials with creep/relaxation constituent modeling capabilities. For two-phase bond coat microstructures, both the actual and homogenized properties are employed in the analysis. The results reveal the important contributions of both the normal and shear stress components to the delamination growth potential in the presence of an oxide film, and suggest mixed-mode crack propagation. The use of bond coats with uniform or graded microstructures is shown to increase the potential for delamination growth by increasing the magnitude of the crack-tip shear stress component.