Determination of residual stresses in SiC monofilament reinforced metal-matrix composites using Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy has been used to follow the deformation of chemical vapour deposition type SCS-6 and Sigma 1140+ SiC monofilaments and to determine residual stresses in these SiC monofilaments reinforced metal-matrix composites. Raman bands at 1330 and 1600 cm⁻¹ due to carbon have been observed on the monofilament surface and it has been shown that both bands shift linearly to lower wavenumbers during tensile deformation. The residual stresses in SiC monofilament reinforced composites arising from thermal expansion mismatch have also been determined by measuring the shifts of carbon bands from the same monofilaments embedded in a Ti–6Al–4V matrix. The axial residual stresses in the carbon coating are found to be around −850 MPa for the SCS-6 composite and −540 MPa for the Sigma 1140+ composite.