Influence of Interphase Imperfections on the Macroscopic Stiffness of Hollow-Sphere Reinforced Composites

Metallic hollow-sphere structures are a new type of advanced materials with promising mechanical properties for multifunctional applications. A simple computational model to consider damage in the sphere-matrix interphase is presented. Two types of damage distributions, i.e., localized and randomized, are investigated. The procedure is applied to steel hollow spheres embedded in an epoxy matrix. It is shown that the interface damage lowers the mechanical properties and localized damage is more critical than randomized at higher damage values.