Mapping the Local Modulus of Sylramic Silicon Carbide Fibers by Nanoindentation

Silicon carbide (SiC) fibers are an important component of SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMC). Service requirements for SiC/SiC CMC components in turbine engines are several hundreds of hours in pertinent combustion gas environments. This inflicts great challenges in terms of testing and in validating components under the required service hours. Modeling and computational methods are a cost-effective approach to explore CMC performance. However, there is still a need of experimental data on local variations in modulus that can be used to feed more realistic models. In this letter, the local modulus of Sylramic fibers is mapped by nanoindentation analysis. It is shown that while average modulus values of fibers maybe identical, its local modulus mapping are quite different.