Fracture behavior of C/SiC composites at elevated temperature

The fracture behavior of carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composites used in rocket nozzles has been investigated under tension, compression, and fracture conditions at room temperature, 773 K and 1173 K. The C/SiC composites used in this study were manufactured by liquid silicon infiltration process at ~1723 K. All experiments were conducted using two types of specimens, considering fiber direction and oxidation condition. Experimental results show that temperature, fiber direction, and oxidation condition affect the behavior of C/SiC composites. Oxidation was found to be the main factor that changes the strength of C/SiC composites. By applying an anti-oxidation coating, the tensile and compressive strengths of the C/SiC composites increased with temperature. The fracture toughness of the C/SiC composites also increased with increase temperature. A fractography analysis of the fractured specimens was conducted using a scanning electron microscope.