Nondestructive characterization of woven fabric ceramic composites

Woven fabric ceramic composites fabricated by the chemical vapor infiltration method are susceptible to high void content and inhomogeneity. The condition of such materials may be characterized nondestructively with ultrasonic methods. In this work, longitudinal and shear waves were used in the quantitative determination of elastic constants of Nicalon/SiC composites as a function of volume percent of porosity. Elastic stiffness constants were obtained for both the in-plane and out-of-plane directions with respect to fiber fabric. The effect of porosity on the modulus of woven fabric composites was also modelled and compared to the measured results. Scan images based on the amplitude and time-of-flight of radio frequency (RF) ultrasonic pulses were used for evaluating the material homogeneity for the purpose of optimizing the manufacturing process and for correlation with the mechanical testing results.