MODELLING THE TENSILE FRACTURE BEHAVIOUR OF THE REINFORCING FIBRE YARNS IN CERAMIC MATRIX COMPOSITES

Abstract— Using experimentally determined data on fibre radius distributions, yarn geometry, matrix and fibre elastic moduli and frictional shear stress at the matrix/fibre interface (obtained by nano-indentation experiments), the failure probability of the composite fibre yarns (after matrix cracking) is estimated. Each fibre is divided into a fixed number of segments above and below the matrix crack. The failure probability on every segment of each fibre is computed using Weibull fibre strength statistics. A fibre is assumed to be broken when the cumulative failure probability for the complete yarn reaches a value of 0.5. The segment and fibre are then selected at "random", according to their individual failure probabilities. After fibre failure, the broken fibre can only carry the frictional load and the load drop is transferred to its neighbours according to their distances to the broken fibre. The remote stress is then modified to match again the cumulative failure probability of 0.5 and a new fibre is broken. This procedure is repeated until all the fibres are broken. In this way, it is possible to obtain the "characteristic" load carried by the yarn and its corresponding elongation. Fibre extraction and pull-out behaviour are also considered. The roles of different load-transfer laws (from global to highly localised) are examined. The model is applied to simulate the fracture tensile behaviour of individual yarns of SiC/SiC ceramic-matrix composites. The results are compared with those obtained from tensile experiments on SiC/SiC individual yarns. The computed fracture morphology, in terms of individual pull-out lengths, is also compared to the actual SEM fractography of a woven SiC/SiC composite.