MICROMECHANICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF UNIDIRECTIONAL CARBON CARBON COMPOSITES VIA MICRO-RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY/

The micromechanical behavior of continuous fiber ceramic composites wa s studied using micro-Raman spectroscopy (MRS). Unidirectional carbon/ carbon composites were probed using MRS, and it was shown that the mic rostrains in the composite constituents could be determined as the mat erials were loaded to increasing strain levels. The unidirectional C/C specimens were strained in both cantilever beam-type bending and in t ension, and both the fiber and matrix strains were recorded. The resul ts show the usefulness of MRS in understanding ceramic matrix composit e micromechanical behavior, and illustrate the inhomogeneous micromech anical behavior of C/C composites. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.