Thermo-structural composites for aerospace industries

Aims

Our group has been working on the mechanical behaviour of thermostructural composites or CMC’s (ceramic matrix composites) since 1985. We aim to characterise damage and predict the product’s lifespan using micromechanical studies together with acoustic emissions analyses.

Activities

Fracture mechanics at room temperature and at high temperatures (C/C, SiC/SiC…)

Cyclic and static fatigue at room temperature and at high temperatures (SiC/SiC, C/C, C/SiC, SiC/SiBC, C/SiBC…)

Acoustic emission fatigue testing (AE)

Studying lifespans

• Micromechanical studies of fibre/matrix and/or strand/layer interactions (effects on the interface, load transfer)
• Modelling by micromechanical analysis
• Acoustic emission (AE) (free energy simulations, classification of markings and labelling, importance of source mechanism etc.)
• Traction on long fibre strands

Studying the damage tolerance of CMC’s

Visualising the impact using tomography and localising the damage using AE

Characterising the microstructure (tomography, electron microscopy, in-situ testing etc.)