Key Engineering Materials Vol. 809

Abstract: Because of the excellent fracture toughness and oxidation resistance, carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide (C/C-SiC or C/SiC) exhibits a sound potential in various application areas such as aerospace technology and high-performance braking systems. For the composite’s reliable design, production, examination, quality assurance and verification, however, the statistical distribution of mechanical properties is of crucial interest and has not been investigated in detail yet. In this work, the strength values of C/C-SiC composite, which was developed via Liquid Silicon Infiltration at the Institute of Structures and Design of German Aerospace Center (DLR), were measured under tensile, bending and compression load. The results were analyzed by normal and Weibull distribution statistics and verified by Kolmogorov–Smirnov-test (KS-test) and Anderson–Darling-test (AD-test). Based on the statistical analysis, the 4PB-strength of C/C-SiC composite can be better described by Weibull distribution. In comparison, normal distribution is more suitable for the compression strength. The influence of different numbers of coupons on the mechanical properties has been identified. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to analyze the fracture surface, which confirmed that the different statistical distribution of strength values was caused by various failure mechanisms.

Abstract: Ceramic materials are suitable for use in the high temperature range. Oxide ceramics, in particular, have a high potential for long-term applications under thermal cycling and oxidising atmosphere. However, monolithic oxide ceramics are unsuitable for use in high-temperature technical applications because of their brittleness. Thin-walled, oxidation resistant, and high-temperature resistant materials can be developed by reinforcing oxide ceramics with ceramic fibres such as alumina fibres. The increase of the mechanical stability of the composites in comparison to the non-fibre reinforced material is of outstanding importance. Possible stresses or cracks can be derived along the fibre under mechanical stress or deformation. Components made of fibre-reinforced ceramic composites with oxide ceramic matrix (OCMC) are currently produced in manual and price-intensive processes for small series. Therefore, the manufacturing should be improved. The ceramic injection moulding (CIM) process is established in the production of monolithic oxide ceramics. This process is characterised by its excellent automation capability. In order to realise large scale production, the CIM-process should be transferred to the production of fibre-reinforced oxide ceramics. The CIM-process enables the production of complicated component shapes and contours without the need for complex mechanical post-treatment. This means that components with complex geometries can be manufactured in large quantities.To investigate the suitability of the injection moulding process for the production of OCMCs, two different feedstocks and alumina fibres (Nextel 610) were compounded in a laboratory-scale compounder. The fibre volume fractions were varied. In a laboratory-scale injection moulding device, microbending specimens were produced from the compounds obtained in this way. To characterise the test specimens, microstructure examinations and mechanical-static tests were done. It is shown that the injection moulding process is suitable for the production of fibre-reinforced oxide ceramics. The investigations show that the feedstocks used have potential for further research work and for future applications as material components for high-temperature applications in oxidising atmospheres.

Abstract: Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC) offer improved mechanical properties, especially higher toughness, preferably at elevated temperatures. Fields of application are, for example, highly hot stressed components of aero engines.Processing of Ceramic Matrix Composites by powder injection molding offers attractive economic benefits, however, it represents a considerable challenge. Development of a process chain for the ceramic injection molding of Al₂O₃ short fiber CMC had started by feedstock preparation and characterization. Fiber content varied between 10 to 50 vol.% whereas for binder a well-examined system from KIT was chosen. The fiber content showed a minor effect on the rheological properties but fiber orientation depended strongly on the apparent shear profile. The sintering behavior was affected as well, i.e. higher densities were achieved.

Abstract: Ceramic-matrix composites (CMC) made of carbon and silicon carbide dual matrix reinforced with carbon fibres (C/C-SiC) have exceptional heat, thermal shock, creep, and wear resistance, while also having little density and high strength. In comparison to monolithic ceramics, CMC possess ductility and damage tolerance, which opens this material for severe applications. Starting in space applications, this material is today well established in friction applications, where lightweight high-performance brakes securely decelerate e.g. luxury cars or elevators. The high production costs still limit the broad application like as brake discs in standard passenger cars, although less weight, better performance and longer lifetime. The industrial used production process is the liquid silicon infiltration (LSI) with it three steps: green body shaping, pyrolysis and silicon infiltration. In this work, the shaping process of the carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) green body, is done by thermoset injection moulding. The application of plastic production processes like compounding and injection moulding in the liquid silicon infiltration process route, enables large-scale manufacturing. However, the screws and high shear forces inside the plastic processing machines significantly shorten the fibres. This paper describes the pros and cons of thermoset injection moulding in the LSI route, as well as the development and effect of different reinforcement types in dependence of their fibre length, since several energy dissipation mechanisms bases on a minimum length of reinforcement fibres in CMC. Various raw materials like short and chopped fibres with different length, rovings, and different approaches to receive longer fibres and their outcomes are presented. The mechanical properties show promising values and the micrographs display the infiltration status and crack development inside the specimen.

Abstract: CMCs have been developed in the 80th for the shuttle programs and commercialized as brake discs from 2000 till today. Since 2017 CMCs are used also in components of flight gas turbines. This application requires highest levels of process and material development and performance. Therefore the knowledge of any process on material damage is of highest importance.The presented work will show a method how to evaluate the quality of edges and surfaces of CMCs created by a special diamond machining operation. The objective is to develop a machining process for CMCs in gas turbine applications and a method for quality assessment for future production.

Abstract: Ceramic fibers are just as glass and basalt member of the group of inorganic fibers. Like most types of inorganic fibers ceramic fibers have a high tear resistance but a limited flexibility. [1] Ceramic fibers are characterized by their extraordinary high temperature and chemical resistance. These properties make them interesting for different high technical applications, as they occur in aerospace, chemical-and energy technology. In this field, they are applied especially as a reinforcement component in composite materials. Not only the partially high material price, but although the typical brittleness of ceramic fibers bring huge problems during the textile production chain, which limits the availability of complex textile preforms in the market. Often, a radical revision of the machine and processing concept is necessary to enable an economical production process. The Application Center for Textile Fiber Ceramics TFK at Fraunhofer-Center for High Temperature Materials and Design HTL develops and modifies textile production processes to make them suitable for the special requirements of ceramic fibers. One and multilayer woven fabrics, braids and tape structures for the winding process have already been successfully implemented. A further development complex is the intensive investigation of three-dimensional textile reinforcement structures. Regarding the high material costs, these research activities are very important. If the textile reinforcement is placed only where needed, the amount of used fiber material can be reduced significantly.

Abstract: The production of C/C-SiC composites comprises a three-stage process: forming (CFRP-composite), pyrolysis (C/C-composite) and liquid silicon infiltration (C/C-SiC). A new promising approach for the manufacturing of CFRP intermediate composites is the injection moulding of customised granulates (novolac resin, hardener, processing additives and short carbon fibre) produced by compounding technique. To date, a direct dosing of short carbon fibre into the compounder was technically not realisable due to fibre separation and electrostatic charging in the hopper. A possible substitute solution has been the direct feeding of a carbon fibre bundle from a roving into the compounder. However, this is associated with a severe damage of the fibres and an inaccurate adjustment of the fibres content. In the present article, new chopped carbon fibres provided with an adapted sizing to be directly dosed into the compounder are used. The fibres possess a predefined length of 3 and 6 mm and their content amounts to 50 and 58 wt.%. The influence of the initial fibre length and fibre content on the physical and mechanical properties of the resulting CFRP-, C/C-and C/C-SiC-composites is presented and discussed. In addition, the impact of fibre feeding procedure at the compounding stage on the microstructure is considered

Abstract: Polymer-metal-hybrid components show a high potential regarding to lightweight applications. In particular, due to their fundamental differences in chemical and physical properties, new approaches must be developed for common industrial joining processes. In this study a new approach in order to characterize the joining zone formation for thermal direct joining based on resistance spot welding is reported. The feasibility of joining in half-section set-up using a coaxial electrode arrangement was investigated. The impact of the welding parameters on the joining zone formation was investigated. The parameters influencing the melting layer formation were pointed out.

Abstract: The trend towards hybrid materials consisting of metals and polymers is strongly driven by requirements such as weight reduction and improved functionality. A crucial step towards new hybrid materials is the advancement of joining technology. While metals and polymers are currently often joined using adhesives, this technology has major drawbacks such as long process cycle time, low robustness with regard to changes of the material composition, and are almost impossible to recycle, a point which is becoming increasingly important. A promising joining method is thermal direct joining of metals and thermoplastic polymers due to its fast cycle time, its robustness of the process and the absence of duroplastic adhesives. Direct joining requires surface treatment of the metallic joining partner prior to the thermal joining process to achieve a sufficiently high contact strength. It is known that laser-induced topologies on the metal surface are beneficial with regard to contact strength of the joints. Designing a joint based on laser structured metals requires a fundamental understanding of the interface interactions. The present paper focuses on the influence of surface enlargement on the joint strength. Laser pretreatment was utilized to generate surface structures with specific surface enlargement on the metallic joining partner. The pretreated metallic parts were subsequently joined with a thermoplastic polymer by injection molding. The joint strength was investigated in single lap shear tests. The key finding is that the contact strength increases almost linearly with the surface area within the tested parameter range, while the structure geometry parameters have only a minor influence. This may help as a design guideline for future adhesive-free hybrid material joining technologies.

Abstract: In this study, magnetic pulse welded steel/aluminum hybrid joints are investigated with the aim of optimizing the process parameters regarding the fatigue behavior. Changes in discharge current, acceleration distance, welding geometry as well as influences of surface topography and corrosion, are examined regarding fatigue life and damage mechanisms. Instrumented multiple amplitude tests combined with constant amplitude tests are carried out for assessing structure-property-relations in a resource-efficient manner. Stress-induced change in strain and alternating current potential drop measurement are well suited for reliable detection of damage initiation and estimation of the fatigue limit. Results reveal that the fatigue properties primarily depend on the imperfections of the weld seam, which are affected mostly by the discharge current and the surface topography. Corrosion shows to be a relevant factor since it decreases fatigue performance. Suitable process parameters are achieved when the fatigue strength of the weld seam lies above the weaker hybrid joint (aluminum). For S235JR and EN AW1050A-H14 (Al99.5) a suitable discharge current was found to be 349 kA at an acceleration distance of 1.5 mm.