Mechanical behavior and numerical estimation of fracture resistance of a SCS6 fiber reinforced reaction bonded S13N4 continuous fiber ceramic composite

Continuous fiber ceramic composites (CFCCs) have advantages over monolithic ceramics: Silicon Nitride composites are not well used for application because of their low fracture toughness and fracture strength, but CFCCs exhibit increased toughness for damage tolerance, and relatively high stiffness in spite of low specific weight. Thus it is important to characterize the fracture resistance and properties of new CFCCs materials. Tensile and flexural tests were carried out for mechanical properties and the fracture resistance behavior of a SCS6 fiber reinforced Si₃N₄ matrix CFCC was evaluated. The results indicated that CFCC composite exhibit a rising R curve behavior in flexural test. The fracture toughness was about 4.8 MPa m^1/2 , which resulted in a higher value of the fracture toughness because of fiber bridging. Mechanical properties as like the elastic modulus, proportional limit and the ultimate strength in a flexural test are greater than those in a tensile test. Also a numerical modeling of failure process was accomplished for a flexural test. This numerical results provided a good simulation of the cumulative fracture process of the fiber and matrix in CFCCs.