  This paper focuses on the development of the atomistic framework for
determining the lower scale mechanical parameters of single components of a
metal matrix composite for final application to a micromechanical damage model.
Here, the deformation and failure behavior of NiAl-Al$_2$O$_3$ interfaces and
their components, metal and ceramic, are analyzed in depth using molecular
statics calculations. A number of atomistic simulations of strength tests,
uniaxial tensile, uniaxial compressive and simple shear, have been performed in
order to obtain a set of stiffness tensors and strain-stress characteristics up
to failure for 30 different crystalline and amorphous systems. Characteristic
points on the strain-stress curves in the vicinity of failure are further
analyzed at the atomistic level, using local measures of lattice disorder.
Numerical results are discussed in the context of composite damage at upper
microscopic scale based on images of the fracture surface of NiAl-Al$_2$O$_3$
composites.
