Computational optimization of the vortex manufacturing of advanced materials

A key component to the success of many modem structural designs is the use of materials with microscopically tailored overall properties. One method to obtain desired macroscopic material behavior is by adding microscopic second phase particles to a base material. The macroscopic behavior of the modified base material is the aggregate response of the particles suspended in the matrix binder. In this regard, a relatively standard manufacturing process is the vortex method, whereby loose particulate additives are stirred into a vortex of molten matrix material. In this work a computational strategy is developed to simulate and accelerate the associated trial and error development of tailored dispersed-type materials manufactured with the vortex method. An algorithm is developed to determine optimal geometrical and mechanical properties of microscopic particulate additives in order to modify a homogeneous base matrix sufficiently enough to deliver a prespecified aggregate response. Consistent with what can be manufactured by the vortex method, microstructures composed of randomly distributed aggregates of particles suspended in a binding matrix are considered. A variety of theoretical issues involved in this process are discussed, and three-dimensional examples involving the finite element method are presented. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.