Significance and Use

This test method may be used for material development, material comparison, quality assurance, characterization, and design data generation.

Continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites generally characterized by fine grain sized ( < 50 ? m) matrices and ceramic fiber reinforcements are candidate materials for structural applications requiring high degrees of wear and corrosion resistance, and high-temperature inherent damage tolerance (that is, toughness). In addition, continuous fiber-reinforced glass (amorphous) matrix composites are candidate materials for similar but possibly less-demanding applications. Although flexural test methods are commonly used to evaluate strengths of monolithic advanced ceramics, the non-uniform stress distribution of the flexure specimen in addition to dissimilar mechanical behavior in tension and compression for CFCCs lead to ambiguity of interpretation of strength results obtained from flexure tests for CFCCs. Uniaxial-loaded tensile strength tests provide information on mechanical behavior and strength for a uniformly-stressed material.

Unlike monolithic advanced ceramics which fracture catastrophically from a single dominant flaw, CFCCs generally experience graceful fracture from a cumulative damage process. Therefore, the volume of material subjected to a uniform tensile stress for a single uniaxially-loaded tensile test may not be as significant a factor in determining the ultimate strengths of CFCCs. However, the need to test a statistically significant number of tensile test specimens is not obviated. Therefore, because of the probabilistic nature of the strength distributions of the brittle matrices of CFCCs, a sufficient number of test specimens at each testing condition is required for statistical analysis and design. Studies to determine the exact influence of test specimen volume on strength distributions for CFCCs have not been completed. It should be noted that tensile strengths obtained using different recommended tensile specimens with different volumes of material in the gage sections may be different due to these volume differences.

Tensile tests provide information on the strength and deformation of materials under uniaxial tensile stresses. Uniform stress states are required to effectively evaluate any non-linear stress-strain behavior which may develop as the result of cumulative damage processes (for example, matrix cracking, matrix/fiber debonding, fiber fracture, delamination, etc.) which may be influenced by testing mode, testing rate, processing or alloying effects, or environmental influences. Some of these effects may be consequences of stress corrosion or subcritical (slow) crack growth that can be minimized by testing at sufficiently rapid rates as outlined in this test method.

The results of tensile tests of test specimens fabricated to standardized dimensions from a particular material or selected portions of a part, or both, may not totally represent the strength and deformation properties of the entire, full-size end product or its in-service behavior in different environments.

For quality control purposes, results derived from standardized tensile test specimens may be considered indicative of the response of the material from which they were taken for, given primary processing conditions and post-processing heat treatments.

The tensile behavior and strength of a CFCC are dependent on its inherent resistance to fracture, the presence of flaws, or damage accumulation processes, or both. Analysis of fracture surfaces and fractography, though beyond the scope of this test method, is highly recommended.

1. Scope

1.1 This test method covers the determination of tensile behavior including tensile strength and stress-strain response under monotonic uniaxial loading of continuous fiber-reinforced advanced ceramics at ambient temperature. This test method addresses, but is not restricted to, various suggested test specimen geometries as listed in the appendix. In addition, test specimen fabrication methods, testing modes (force, displacement, or strain control), testing rates (force rate, stress rate, displacement rate, or strain rate), allowable bending, and data collection and reporting procedures are addressed. Note that tensile strength as used in this test method refers to the tensile strength obtained under monotonic uniaxial loading where monotonic refers to a continuous nonstop test rate with no reversals from test initiation to final fracture.

1.2 This test method applies primarily to all advanced ceramic matrix composites with continuous fiber reinforcement: uni-directional (1-D), bi-directional (2-D), and tri-directional (3-D). In addition, this test method may also be used with glass (amorphous) matrix composites with 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D continuous fiber reinforcement. This test method does not address directly discontinuous fiber-reinforced, whisker-reinforced or particulate-reinforced ceramics, although the test methods detailed here may be equally applicable to these composites.

1.3 Values expressed in this test method are in accordance with the International System of Units (SI) and .

1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. Specific hazard statements are given in Section 7 and 8.2.5.2.

2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.

ASTM Standards

C1145 Terminology of Advanced Ceramics

C1239 Practice for Reporting Uniaxial Strength Data and Estimating Weibull Distribution Parameters for Advanced Ceramics

D3039/D3039M Test Method for Tensile Properties of Polymer Matrix Composite Materials

D3379 Test Method for Tensile Strength and Youngs Modulus for High-Modulus Single-Filament Materials

D3878 Terminology for Composite Materials

E4 Practices for Force Verification of Testing Machines

E6 Terminology Relating to Methods of Mechanical Testing

E83 Practice for Verification and Classification of Extensometer Systems

E177 Practice for Use of the Terms Precision and Bias in ASTM Test Methods

E337 Test Method for Measuring Humidity with a Psychrometer (the Measurement of Wet- and Dry-Bulb Temperatures)

E691 Practice for Conducting an Interlaboratory Study to Determine the Precision of a Test Method

E1012 Practice for Verification of Testing Frame and Specimen Alignment Under Tensile and Compressive Axial Force Application

Keywords

ceramic matrix composite; CFCC continuous fiber composite; tensile test; Stress--ceramics; Tensile properties/testing--ceramics; Advanced ceramics; Ambient temperature; Ceramic composites; CFCC (continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic composite); Composites; Continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic composites (CFCC); Monotonic uniaxial loading; Rectangular ceramic test specimens; Solid phase materials; Strain testing;

ICS Code

ICS Number Code 81.060.99 (Other standards related to ceramics); 81.060.30 (Advanced ceramics)

DOI: 10.1520/C1275-10

ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.

ASTM C1275