Damage analysis of a SiCf/SiC ceramic matrix composite under stepwise fatigue loading with acoustic emission

Abstract

Continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) exhibit different damage mechanisms at multiple scales under cyclic loading. In this paper, the tension-tension fatigue behavior of a plain woven SiCf/SiC CMC was investigated, and damage accumulation and evolution process were studied in detail via acoustic emission (AE) method. With the increase of cycles, the material exhibits obvious hysteresis behavior affected by interfacial slip and wear mechanisms. Most of the fibers with radial fracture characteristic have relatively high strength, showing excellent toughening property. In the stepwise cyclic loading process, the Kaiser effect of AE determines the initiation of AE activities at each initial loading moment, which shows obvious nonlinear damage accumulation behavior of the material. High-energy events are related to significant matrix cracking and fiber fracture, and the evolution process of material damage initiation and propagation is monitored in real time.