## 2 Materials and Methods
### Finite Element Analysis Simulations  
Abaqus FEA input files were generated as a result of the DREAM.3D pipeline execution. The element type created for all input files was the general-purpose C3D8 with 8 integration points and each ensemble consisted of 160,000 such elements, given that the chosen dimensions were 40 \(\times\) 40 \(\times\) 100. In order to perform tensile test simulations on the created SSRVEs, a designation of the mechanical properties of each phase was necessary. For the three AA7075 phases, the stress-strain curves obtained by [PERSON] et al. [40] were employed. In that work, micropillar compression experiments were conducted for each phase. In the present work, the mechanical properties of each phase were obtained from the corresponding stress-strain curves (elastic modulus, yield stress, strain hardening modulus). For CF, the mechanical properties were taken from [50,51]. For all materials, a Poisson's ratio of 0.3 was assumed. The mechanical properties used in the simulations are presented in Table 2. It is worth noting that the Al\({}_{7}\)Cu\({}_{2}\)Fe precipitate phase and the CF have brittle mechanical behavior, in contrast to the alloy matrix and the Mg\({}_{2}\)Si precipitate phase. This is an important note for the framework performance because, for large deformations, the FEA model may malfunction and eventually crash.  
Both elastic and plastic behaviors were evaluated. For the elastic region, an isotropic linear model was selected, as very low deformations were to be applied. No dependency on temperature or other variables was incorporated. For the plastic region, an isotropic  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Elastic Modulus (GPa)** & **Poisson’s Ratio** & **Yield Stress (MPa)** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Strain Hardening** \\ **Modulus (MPa)** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Matrix} & \multirow{2}{*}{44} & \multirow{2}{*}{0.3} & 400 & 0 \\  & & & 500 & 0.011 \\  & & & 600 & 0.036 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Mg\({}_{2}\)Si} & \multirow{2}{*}{102} & \multirow{2}{*}{0.3} & 1650 & 0 \\  & & & 1950 & 0.036 \\ \hline Al\(\varphi\)Cu\({}_{2}\)Fe & 132 & 0.3 & 2500 & 0 \\ \hline CF & 230 & 0.3 & 4900 & 0 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Mechanical properties of AA7075 phases and CF.  
Figure 5: SSRVEs for AA7075/CF MMCs with CF volume fraction of 8% and aspect ratio equal to (a) 15.7, (b) 30.7, and (c) 45.7.  
hardening law was selected, again not including any additional dependencies. Regarding contact properties between the phases, the default contact property model was selected, which assumes zero friction and no thermal interactions.  
For the pure alloy samples, an elongation up to 3.0% was applied. For the 30:7 MMC samples with \(f\) equal to 4%, 8%, and 12%, elongations up to 2.0%, 1.6%, and 1.4%, respectively, were applied. This difference was due to simulation errors occurring with increasing CF content, possibly, as was mentioned, due to their brittle behavior. For 8% MMC samples with different CF aspect ratios, an elongation up to 1.2% was applied. Four samples were used for each type of MMC. By dividing each loading simulation in 8 different steps and by plotting the corresponding reaction force of each step as a function of elongation, corresponding stress-strain curves were obtained. The computational times of the simulations were typically between 2 and 4 h.