Abstract
Fracture toughness occurring in a material that has micro-cracks may be improved by particle addition, these particles having different properties than the basic material. This paper includes the outcome of a research on the influence of softer or harder particles added to the basic material, on the stresses occurring in the immediate vicinity of micro-cracks. Our research is designed to determine to what extent this process may result into preventing a crack from advancing into the material subject to unfavorable loads, depending on the direction of that crack. The outcome we achieved using finite element analysis supports the assumption that, by adding a certain amount of particles, which have specific characteristics, to the basic material, fracture toughness may increase significantly. Keywords: inclusion, crack, stress, finite element analysis, hard and soft particles