Abstract: As an example to the SiC particle reinforced aluminium matrix composites (SiCp/A365),the two unit cell models of composites were established,i.e.,the homogeneous and non-homogeneous unit cell models.On the basis of the comparison of caculation results with experiment results of the models,the effects of content of SiC particles and the temperature of composites on the validity of finite element analysis based on the homogenizing assumption of SiCp/A356 composites were investigated systematically.The results show that when the content of SiC particles in the composites was no more than 20 wt% and the temperature in the range from 25 ℃ to 300 ℃,the simulation results from finite element analysis were valid.