Fatigue Life Prediction of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Ceramic-Matrix Composites at Room and Elevated Temperatures. Part II: Experimental Comparisons

This paper follows on from the earlier study (Part I) which investigated the fatigue behavior of unidirectional, cross-ply and 2.5D C/SiC composites at room and elevated temperatures. In this paper, a micromechanics approach to predict the fatigue life S-N curves of fiber-reinforced CMCs has been developed considering the fatigue damage mechanism of interface wear or interface oxidation. Upon first loading to fatigue peak stress, matrix multicracking and fiber/matrix interface debonding occur. The two-parameter Weibull model is used to describe fibers strength distribution. The stress carried by broken and intact fibres on the matrix crack plane under fatigue loading is determined based on the Global Load Sharing (GLS) criterion. The fibres failure probabilities under fatigue loading considering the degradation of interface shear stress and fibres strength have been obtained. When the broken fibres fraction approaches critical value, the composite would fatigue fail. The fatigue life S-N curves of unidirectional, cross-ply and 2.5D C/SiC composites at room and elevated temperatures have been predicted. The predicted results agreed with experimental data.