The influence of Bi-layer composite coating microstructure on the strength of the coated material

Deformation and fracture in aluminum with bi-layer metal-matrix composite coating are studied numerically. Two-dimensional dynamic boundary-value problems in the plane-stress formulation are solved by the finite element method, using ABAQUS/Explicit. Microstructure of the composite coatings takes into account the complex shape of particles explicitly. Isotropic elastoplastic and elastic-brittle models were used to simulate the mechanical response of the aluminum matrix and ceramic particles, respectively. To investigate the crack initiation and propagation in ceramic particles, a Huber type fracture criterion was chosen that takes into account the type of local stress state: bulk tension or compression. The influence of the arrangement of the coating layers on the fracture of ceramic particles and on the macroscopic strength of the coated materials is studied.