Acoustic Emission and Damage Accumulation for Various Woven C/SiC Composites Tested in Tension at Room Temperature

Modal acoustic emission (AE) has proven to be an excellent technique to monitor damage accumulation in ceramic matrix composites. In this study, AE was used to monitor tensile load-unload-reload hysteresis tests for a variety of C fiber reinforced, SiC matrix composites. C/SiC composites were reinforced with T300 and IM7 fibers, had C, multilayer, or pseudo-porous C interphases, and had chemical vapor infiltrated SiC or melt-infiltrated SiC matrices. All of the composites exhibited considerable AE during testing. The extent and nature of the AE activity will be analyzed and discussed in light of matrix cracking and the variety of composite constituents. It is hoped that understanding the nature of stress dependent damage accumulation in these materials can be of use in life modeling for these types of composites.