Fatigue damage analysis and life prediction of 3D braided SiC/SiC composites with multi-scale approach

JB Han and LM Lei and SH Liu and JC Zhang, COMPOSITE STRUCTURES, 349, 118447 (2024).

DOI: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2024.118447

Due to the high cost and complex operation of fatigue tests, a multi- scale fatigue damage analysis and life prediction method for 3D braided SiC/SiC composites is proposed in this paper. In this method, the fatigue behavior of the interface is characterized by the cyclic cohesive zone model (CCZM), which is based on the cohesive zone model (CZM) obtained from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The fatigue damage evolution of the yarn and matrix is described by a continuous damage model (CDM) along with an exponential damagecycle number (D-n) relationship. Geometrically, a representative volume element (RVE) model consisting of a zero-thickness interface, yarn and matrix is constructed. The fatigue analysis is carried out by the software ABAQUS, in which the fatigue life of 3D braided SiC/SiC composites at different fatigue loading factors is predicted, and the maximum fatigue stress versus the number of cycles (S-N) curves are plotted. When the maximum fatigue stress is 18 % of the tensile strength, the fatigue life prediction accuracy of the proposed method is within 2.2 times error band, which demonstrates the effectiveness and reliability on the proposed method in this paper. This work provides an innovative perspective for fatigue damage and life prediction to braided SiC/SiC composites.

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