Abstract
Continuous carbon fibre-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are one of the most promising candidate materials for many high-temperature applications, particularly as thermo-structural hardware for aerospace and aircraft applications. However, the major challenge lies in joining these composites to the airframe for their application as re-usable thermal protection systems for re-entry vehicles. This necessitates development of suitable fastening mechanisms which can withstand the aero-thermal loads of structures during re-entry conditions. Conventionally used high-temperature fasteners are molybdenum based and they suffer from problems related to oxidation at temperatures above 800 °C in air. Thus for such applications, C/SiC fasteners are considered more reliable due to the oxidation resistance offered up to 1650 °C. This study highlights the importance of fibre orientation in continuous C/SiC composite used for fabricating C/SiC fasteners for futuristic re-entry launch vehicles. The study describes fabrication of four different types of continuous fibre-oriented C/SiC composites viz., 2D stitched, 3D woven, 4D NOOBED and 5D NOOBED configurations via chemical vapour infiltration (CVI) route, and compares their tensile property at room temperature so as to find out a suitable preform for fabrication of C/SiC fasteners. It was found that 2D stitched preform-based C/SiC specimen gave the highest tensile strength (157 ± 14 MPa), followed by 3D woven preform-based specimen (130 ± 25 MPa), while the tensile strength of 4D- and 5D-based specimens was very low. Through this study, two carbon fibre preforms viz., 2D stitched and 3D woven are selected for realizing C/SiC fasteners. The role of pyrocarbon interphase coating on carbon fibres, in obtaining high mechanical properties is also understood.
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Acknowledgement
The authors wish to place on record their sincere thanks to Director VSSC for giving the permission to publish this work, Associate Director (R&D) VSSC, Deputy Director PCM Entity and Group Director Analytical, Spectroscopy and Ceramics Group for all their support and encouragement for this work. The team at Analytical and Spectroscopy Division is acknowledged for evaluation of properties and SEM images.
Funding
The funding has been provided by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space, Government of India as part of Advanced Research and Development program on “Development of CMC Fasteners for high-temperature applications” being conducted at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of ISRO.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by SK, AK, SKKP, SPP, AP and RD. The analysis was performed by NN. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SK and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kumar, S., Painuly, A., Kamal, A. et al. Studies on Fibre Orientation of Carbon Fibre Preforms for Fabrication of C/SiC Fasteners. Trans Indian Natl. Acad. Eng. 6, 49–55 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41403-020-00173-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41403-020-00173-z