Micromechanical investigations of unidirectional carbon/carbon composites via micro-Raman spectroscopy Original Research Article

The micromechanical behavior of continuous fiber ceramic composites was studied using micro-Raman spectroscopy (MRS). Unidirectional carbon/carbon composites were probed using MRS, and it was shown that the microstrains in the composite constituents could be determined as the materials were loaded to increasing strain levels. The unidirectional C/C specimens were strained in both cantilever beam-type bending and in tension, and both the fiber and matrix strains were recorded. The results show the usefulness of MRS in understanding ceramic matrix composite micromechanical behavior, and illustrate the inhomogeneous micromechanical behavior of C/C composites.