1,721,020 research outputs found
Impact of residual stress on thermal damage accumulation, and Young's modulus of fiber-reinforced ultra-high temperature ceramics
Ultra-high temperature ceramic matrix composites (UHTCMCs) based on ZrB2-matrix reinforced with 45 vol% of unidirectional continuous carbon fibers are studied through the thermal mechanical hysteresis in order to investigate the thermal damage accumulation. The analysis carried out allowed to extrapolate the Young's modulus of the matrix from thermal expansion measures. It was found that the initial matrix Young's modulus of 195 GPa steadily decreases by thermal cycling the samples between RT and 1300 °C as a consequence of matrix cracking. On the other hand, the analysis suggested that carbon fibers keep their Young's modulus constant at 780 GPa. Finally, the residual stresses due to the different coefficient of thermal expansion between matrix and carbon fibers are discussed and let to justify the Young's modulus of 230 GPa, which cannot be explained with the so-called “rule of mixtures” generally valid and widely used in the composite science
Insight into microstructure and flexural strength of ultra-high temperature ceramics enriched SICARBONTM composite
Research efforts on Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) are aimed to increase the operating temperature in oxidizing environments by adding Ultra-High Temperature Ceramic (UHTC) phases to the matrix. The structural performances of UHTC-enriched CMCs are generally investigated through bending test because it requires simple fixture and specimen geometry with small quantity of plate material. However, there are hardly any scientific studies which bring out what bending test conditions are required to determine reliable flexural strength of these composites. In this study, the effect of span length and specimen orientation on the flexural strength of UHTC-enriched SICARBONTM material, produced by Airbus, was comprehensively evaluated and reported. Transition of the failure mode was obtained by tilting the specimens with horizontal build direction instead of lay-up configuration (vertical build direction). The tilted configuration allowed to get a valid flexural strength of 370 MPa even with small specimens of about 30 mm. To assess failure mode in different test configurations, virtual microstructure was generated on the base of cumulative distribution functions of observed microstructural features. Tsai-Wu failure criterion was extended in order to evaluate direction dependent failure indices for different lay-up configurations
Aerothermal behaviour of a SiC fibre reinforced ZrB2 sharp component in supersonic regime
Synthesis, consolidation and characterization of monolithic and SiC whiskers reinforced HfB2 ceramics
Spark Plasma Sintering is used for the fabrication of highly dense HfB2 monolithic and HfB2-26vol.% SiCw composite. Reactive SPS from elemental reactants is preferred for the preparation of bulk HfB2 instead of classical sintering. The desired phase is rapidly formed through a solid-solid combustion synthesis mechanism, while full densification is achieved in 30min at 1350A when the applied pressure is switched from 20 to 50MPa after the synthesis reaction. A 99.4% dense whiskers-reinforced HfB2 ceramic matrix composite is also obtained in 30min by SPS (I=1350A, P=20MPa) using SHSed HfB2 powders and SiCw. Nevertheless, whiskers degradation into SiCp resulted under such conditions (temperature up to 1830°C). On the other hand, the presence of whiskers is clearly evidenced in 96% dense products obtained when the applied current was decreased down to 1200A (1700°C) while P was increased to 60MPa
Influence of Y2O3 addition on the mechanical and oxidation behaviour of carbon fibre reinforced ZrB2/SiC composites
The influence of Y2O3 addition on the microstructure, thermo-mechanical properties and oxidation resistance of carbon fibre reinforced ZrB2/SiC composites was investigated. Y2O3 reacted with oxide impurities present on the surface of ZrB2 and SiC grains and formed a liquid phase, effectively lowering the sintering temperature and allowing to reach full density at 1900 °C. The presence of a carbon source (fibres) led to additional reactions which resulted in the formation of new secondary phases such as yttrium boro-carbides. Mechanical properties were significantly enhanced compared to the un-doped composite. Further tests at high temperatures resulted in strength increase up to 700 MPa at 1500 °C which was attributed to stress relaxation. Oxidation tests carried out at 1500 °C and 1650 °C in air showed that the presence of the Y-based secondary phases enhanced the growth of ZrO2 grains, but offered limited protection to oxygen due to the lower availability of surficial SiO2 formed from SiC
Significant improvement of the self-protection capability of ultra-high temperature ceramic matrix composites
The oxidation behaviour of Cf/ZrB2-SiC with different fibre architectures, manufactured by slurry impregnation, polymer infiltration and mild pyrolysis, was investigated. Short term oxidation tests in air were performed for 1 min and 5 min at 1500 °C and 1650 °C in a bottom loading furnace. Microstructure, oxide scale thickness and composition were analysed by SEM/EDS/XRD. Results indicated that a good dispersion of ZrB2 particles in the polymer derived SiC(O) matrix promoted the formation of compact scales filling surface holes left by fibre oxidation. 20−30 vol% of ZrB2 in the material was found a good compromise between lightness and oxidation resistance
Formation of high entropy metal diborides using arc-melting and combinatorial approach to study quinary and quaternary solid solutions
High entropy metal diborides (HEBs) represent a radically new approach to extend the chemical composition window of ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs). In this work, arc-melting was used to produce dense HEBs starting from UHTC powders. In order to understand the influence of each individual diboride within the quinary system (HfB2, ZrB2, TiB2, TaB2 and CrB2), we investigated five quaternary equimolar solid solutions e.g. Hf-Zr-Ti-Ta, Hf-Zr-Ti-Cr, Hf-Zr-Ta-Cr, Hf-Ti-Ta-Cr, Zr-Ti-Ta-Cr and the overall quinary equimolar combination. Arc-melting allowed a rapid screening of favorable and unfavorable combinations. The produced HEBs were free from undesired oxides and characterized by linear variation of lattice parameters typical of diborides and binary solid solutions. Because of evaporation during arc melting, CrB2 was hardly found in the solid solution, suggesting that vapor pressure should be taken into account when designing HEB compositions especially for operating temperatures exceeding 2000 °C. Finally, Vickers microhardness ranged between the typical values of starting diborides
Development of UHTCMCs via water based ZrB2 powder slurry infiltration and polymer infiltration and pyrolysis
Cf/ZrB2-SiC ultra-high temperature composites were manufactured via aqueous slurry impregnation coupled with polymer infiltration and pyrolysis, using a allylhydrido polycarbosilane precursor. For the first time we used ultra-high modulus pitch-based carbon fibres for the PIP process, investigating three different architectures, 0/0°, 0/90°, and 2D. Microstructure, mechanical properties and oxidation resistance in air at 1650 °C were investigated. As expected, the mechanical properties showed the tendency to decrease with increase of the preforms complexity, due to the higher amount of flaws and residual stresses. For instance, the flexural strength was approaching 500 MPa for 0/0°, 370 MPa for 0/90° and 190 MPa for 2D. The materials showed an optimal resistance to oxidation at 1650 °C thanks to formation of a viscous borosilicate glass that guaranteed a self-healing functionality
Functionally Graded Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Ceramics for Extreme Environments: Characterization and Numerical Assessment
Off-axis damage tolerance of fiber-reinforced composites for aerospace systems
Off-axis strength retention of continuous carbon fiber-reinforced dense ZrB2-based ceramics (Cf/ZrB2) after thermal or indentation damage was evaluated. Thermal damage was in-situ induced and characterized by cyclic dilatometric analysis. Indentation damage was induced through Vickers indentation and then characterized by digital microscopy. The investigation of Vickers imprints suggested that residual stresses promoted the material pileup onto the fibers’ plane and the appearance of out-of-plane freed fibers (OFF). On the other hand, thermal damage reduced the residual stresses and left inner freed fibers (IFF) that enhanced the elastic response. Finally, the flexural tests on damaged specimens unexpectedly revealed that Cf/ZrB2 kept its load bearing capability either after thermal or indentation damage (in both cases) and showed damage insensitivity although tested in fully matrix-dominated loading configuration (off-axis configuration)
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