Numerical study on viscoelastic behavior of particulate composites based on the mean-field based micromechanics model

This paper investigates the effects of constituents' properties (i.e., stiffness ratio, volume fraction, and interfacial stiffness) on the viscoelastic behavior through the mean-field-based micromechanics model. The stress prediction of the proposed micromechanics model for the viscoelastic composites is verified through the direct numerical simulation (DNS) using a finite element model with different volume fractions, materials properties, and interphase layers. The stress prediction accuracy is studied under cyclic loading conditions. The stress prediction accuracy is better when the volume fraction is lower and the interphase layer is modeled. Finally, the effects of the constituent's properties, volume fraction, and interfacial imperfection on the tangent delta and relaxation behavior of the composites are examined.