Estimation of elastic properties of a particulate polymer composite using a face-centered cubic FE model

Abstract

A three-dimensional (31)) finite element (FE) unit cell model is applied to studies on the elastic properties of ceramic spherical particle-polymer composite. In this model, hydroxyapatite particles (HAp) are assumed to be spherical and are arranged on a face-centered cubic (FCC) array in poly-L-lactide (PLLA) matrix surrounding. The three dimensionality of the proposed model enables simulation of elastic properties as well as developed stress states. The FE calculations provide estimates of compressive elastic modulus, shear modulus, Poisson's ratio and stress state of the composite for a range of particle volume fractions. The FCC unit cell FE models are evaluated by comparison to available experimental results, simple cubic (SC) unit cell FE calculations and Halpin-Tsai equations. In applying unit cell models for predicting elastic properties of particle-filled composites, the FCC arrangement can be observed to be more accurate compared with the SC arrangement.