In situ X-ray tomography characterisation of 3D deformation of C/C-Sic composites

In this study, published in Composites Part A by Yang Chen and James Marrow, with co-authors Yuan Shi (German Aerospace Center, DLR) and Camille Chateau (Ecole des Ponts ParisTec), C/C-SiC composites fabricated through Liquid Silicon Infiltration have been studied with in situ X-ray computed tomography during tensile loading in different orientations, to obtain explicit visualisations and quantitative measurements of the microstructure.

The full-field displacement and strain fields were measured by Digital Volume Correlation to reveal the strain localisations that represent damage including delamination.  The observations show the importance of residual stresses to damage development in C/C-SiC composites.