Evaluation of the thermal shock shear strength of carbon-carbon (C/C) composite by a laser irradiation technique

The thermal shock strength of laminated carbon-carbon (C/C) composite must be evaluated for application to components surrounded by a high temperature field. However, this has not yet been done. This paper presents such work using a laser irradiation technique for laminated C/C composite. The traditionally adapted quenching test for thermal shock strength is well established, but there is still a problem of the unstable heat-transfer coefficient in the quenching process. The newly proposed laser irradiation method does not have such a problem and was applied effectively to a lamination of C/C composite for the evaluation of thermal shock strength. Introducing the critical power density at which the material's fracture occurs, the thermal shock strength was obtained. It was concluded that the critical power density could be a new measure to evaluate the thermal shock strength for laminated C/C composite. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.