Silicon (Si)-based materials are sought in different engineering applications including Civil, Mechanical, Chemical, Materials, Energy and Minerals engineering. Silicon and Silicon dioxide are processed extensively in the industries in granular form, for example to develop durable concrete, shock and fracture resistant materials, biological, optical, mechanical and electronic devices which offer significant advantages over existing technologies. Here we focus on the constitutive behaviour of Si-based granular materials under mechanical shearing. In the recent times, it is widely recognised in the literature that the microscopic origin of shear strength in granular assemblies are associated with their ability to establish anisotropic networks (fabrics) comprising strong-force transmitting inter-particle contacts under shear loading. Strong contacts pertain to the relatively small number of contacts carrying greater than the average normal contact force. However, information on how such fabrics evolve in Si-based assemblies under mechanical loading, and their link to bulk shear strength of such assemblies are scarce in the literature. Using discrete element method (DEM), here we present results on how Si-based granular assemblies develop shear strength and their internal fabric structures under bi-axial quasi-static compression loading. Based on the analysis, a simple constitutive relation is presented for the bulk shear strength of the Si-based assemblies relating with their internal fabric anisotropy of the heavily loaded contacts. These findings could help to develop structure-processing property relations of Si-based materials in future, which originate at the microscale.

中文翻译：

---

织物-硅基颗粒组件的剪切强度链接

硅 (Si) 基材料用于不同的工程应用，包括土木、机械、化学、材料、能源和矿产工程。硅和二氧化硅在工业中以颗粒形式被广泛加工，例如开发耐用的混凝土、抗冲击和抗断裂材料、生物、光学、机械和电子设备，这些设备与现有技术相比具有显着优势。在这里，我们关注机械剪切下硅基颗粒材料的本构行为。最近，在文献中广泛认识到颗粒组件中剪切强度的微观起源与其建立各向异性网络（织物）的能力有关，该网络包括在剪切载荷下传递强力的颗粒间接触。强接触是指相对少量的接触承受大于平均法向接触力的接触。然而，关于此类织物在机械载荷下如何在 Si 基组件中演变的信息，以及它们与此类组件的整体剪切强度的联系在文献中很少见。使用离散元方法 (DEM)，我们在此展示了关于硅基颗粒组件如何在双轴准静态压缩载荷下产生剪切强度及其内部织物结构的结果。在分析的基础上，提出了一个简单的本构关系，用于与重载接触的内部结构各向异性相关的硅基组件的体剪切强度。这些发现有助于在未来发展源自微观尺度的硅基材料的结构-加工性能关系。