The transverse strain response of cross-plied fibre-reinforced ceramic-matrix composites

A micromechanical model for the transverse strain response of cross-plied f ibre-reinforced ceramic-matrix composites has been developed. The model use s different unit-cells to describe the composite material and lakes into ac count all damage developing during tensile testing. The followed approach h as been assessed by comparing the simulated and experimentally observed res ponse of three different SiCf/CAS composites. Theory and experiment are in excellent agreement and a parametric study shows the limited impact of the simplifying assumptions made. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.