Effect of fiber characteristics on fracture behavior of Cr／SiC composites

Cr/SiC composites were prepared by precursor pyrolysis-hot pressing, and the effect of fiber characteristics on the fracture behavior of the composites was investigated. Because the heat treatment temperature of fiber T300 (below 1500 ℃ ) was much lower than that d fiber M40JB (over 2000 ℃ ), fiber T300 had lower degree d graphitization and consisted of more impurities compared with fiber M40JB, suggesting that T300 exhibits higher chemical activity. As a resuit, the composite with T300 showed a brittle fracture behavior, which is mainly ascribed to a strongly bonded fiber/matrix interface as well as the degradation d fibers during the preparation d the composite. However, the composite with M40JB exhibits a tough fracture behavior, which is primarily attributed to a weakly bonded fiber/matrix interface and higher strength retention of the fibers.