Title: Spatial location of fibre failure during fatigue of Ti matrix composites reinforced by SiC fibres

Authors: Jun Liu, Paul Bowen

Addresses: Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in Materials for High Performance Applications/School of Metallurgy and Materials, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. ' Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in Materials for High Performance Applications/School of Metallurgy and Materials, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

Abstract: The spatial location of fibre failure in titanium matrix composite specimens reinforced by continuous silicon carbide fibres during fatigue has been determined. The position of fibre failure along the fibre length direction was detected by two acoustic emission (AE) sensors using a linear location technique. The importance of sensor positions and AE threshold values on the resolution is analysed by examining the waveform of the AE signals. In addition, a particular calibration and calculation method has been developed to take into account the different acoustic wave velocities in the composite specimen and grips. The position of the broken fibre was detected by a fibre probing (FP) technique, which includes the measurement of electrical resistance of the core of the fibres.

Keywords: acoustic emission; AE waveform; fibre probing; spatial location; titanium matrix composites; silicon carbide; composites; fibre failure; metal matrix composites; MMC; fatigue.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2001.005399

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2001 Vol.16 No.1/2/3, pp.84 - 93

Published online: 01 Oct 2004 *

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