Cyclic plasticity and creep-cyclic plasticity behaviours of the SiC/Ti-6242 particulate reinforced titanium matrix composites under thermo-mechanical loadings

The purpose of this work is to investigate the cyclic plasticity and creep-cyclic plasticity behaviours of particle reinforced titanium matrix composites (PRTMCs) SiC/Ti-6242, aimed to be used in high temperature applications. The investigation has been conducted upon microstructures that have been taken from a previous study where low-fidelity model-based optimization (LFMBO) has been used to maximise the elastic behaviour of particle reinforced aluminium matrix composites. The effect of the particle spatial distribution, particle fraction volume and number of particles on the shakedown limit, limit load and creep-cyclic plasticity have been explored by direct numerical techniques based on the Linear Matching Method (LMM) framework. The micromechanical approach to modelling and fifteen multi-particle unit cells have been investigated. Under cyclic loading conditions, the structural response of PRTMCs is not trivial and becomes even more significant when high temperature is involved. Hence, the factors that affect the creep and cyclic plasticity of PRTMCs are analysed and discussed, including effects of the applied load level, dwell period and temperature on the composites' performance. The applicability and accuracy of the proposed direct method has also been verified by the step-by-step analysis.