Damage process of unidirectional SiC fiber reinforced glass-matrix composites

This paper examines the damage process of unidirectional BN-coated HI-NICALON SiC fiber reinforced glass Composites under tensile loading. The nonlinear stress-strain relation is predicted with the mean matrix cracking interval from replica observation during tensile testing. The prediction gives good agreement with experimantal results. Ultimate tensile strength can be predicted by using a probabilistic fracture model based on the strength distribution data of fibers extracted from fabricated composites. Difference between the experimental strength and the predicted one is examined. The fracture surfaces after tensile testing are observed with SEM and fiber pull-outs can be found in fiber rich region more frequently than in matrix rich region.