Nonlinear interphase effects on plastic hardening of nylon 6/clay nanocomposites: A computational stochastic analysis

In this paper, the nonlinear effect of interphase properties on the macroscopic plastic response of nylon 6/clay nanocomposites is investigated by applying a stochastic analysis on a multiscale computational model of nanocomposites. The mechanical behavior of interphase is described with respect to that of the matrix by a weakening coefficient. The interphase thickness and properties are considered as the stochastic inputs and the hardening modulus and hardening exponent describing the plastic hardening characteristics of the nanocomposite are the random outputs. The stochastic analysis consists of three procedures including (i) model selection using Akaike information criterion, (ii) uncertainty propagation using Latin Hypercube sampling in conjunction with chi-square test, and (iii) sensitivity analysis using Sobol indices. The results indicate that the exponential hardening model best describes the flow stress–plastic strain response of the nanocomposite. It is also shown that increasing the clay content generally increases the plastic hardening rate of the nanocomposite up to 4% clay content. Besides, the hardening characteristics of the nanocomposite are more sensitive to the weakening coefficient than the interphase thickness.