(1. School of Materials Science and Engineering,Harbin Institute of Technology,Harbin 150001,China)(2. Institute for Composites Science Innovation(InCSI),School of Materials Science and Engineeing, Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310027,China)
Recently, it was proved that tailoring the reinforcement distribution is expected to overcome the contradiction between the strength and toughness of metal matrix composites (MMCs). However, the architectural design includes many factors, i.e. reinforcement size, shape and types as well as structural parameters. Thus, traditional experimental methods can’t meet the research demand of architectural design, and consequently, investigating the effect of structural factors on the properties of the composites via finite element method (FEM) becomes a necessity. Through building three-dimensional geometric models and introduing constitutive laws of matrix, reforcement and interface, one can predict deformation/failure behaviors and mechanical properties of composites with a range of tailored architectures. In this paper, the modeling process of particle reinforced MMCs was firstly reviewed. Then the research progress of FEM simulation on composites with network architectures was presented following by an outlook to the future of FEM simulation on composite with various architectures.