Nondestructive testing of ceramic matrix composites coupled with finite element analyses

Ceramic matrix composites are engineered materials frequently filled with manufacturing discontinuities, such as voids, delamination or fiber cracking. In this paper, nondestructive testing (NDT) of a ceramic matrix composite tensile specimen is coupled with a finite element analysis to locate the failure location prior to the actual testing. The tensile ceramic matrix composite specimen is scanned with computed tomography along various planes. The majority of the observed discontinuities are porosities in the matrix. ne computed tomography images are then used to reconstruct a three dimensional volume of the specimen's gage section using an image processing software. Subsequently, a three dimensional finite element analysis is carried out to include the scanned porosities. The stress variations along the scanned computed tomography planes are determined and comparison,of the finite element analysis results with those extracted via NDT and the test data are reported.