Numerical simulation on elastic properties of short fiber reinforced syntactic foams

The binary model was used to simplify the simulation of short fiber reinforced syntactic foams (SFRSF).The randomness of fiber distribution in the space was considered,and the fiber and the matrix were separately divided by different element types without considering the mesh matching.Then the improved embedded element technique (EET) was used to couple the fiber and the matrix.A link element was introduced to simulate the interface and the force transfer mechanism between the fiber and the matrix.Then,a finite element numerical model was established to reflect the mesostructure of the material.Based on the numerical simulation,the influence of the length and content of fiber as well as the content and the wall thickness of hollow particle on the Young's modulus of the SFRSF was studied.The results show that a good agreement can be achieved between the numerical predictions and experimental observations.The increase of the content the length of carbon fibers and the wall thickness of syntactic foam can effectively improve Young's modulus of SFRSF.