The effects of neutron irradiation on shear properties of monolayered PyC and multilayered PyC/SiC interfaces of SiC/SiC composites

The effect of neutron irradiation on mechanical properties at the fiber/matrix interface of SiC/SiC composites was evaluated. The materials investigated were Hi-Nicalon™ Type-S fiber reinforced chemically vapor infiltrated SiC matrix composites with varied interphases: monolayered pyrolytic carbon (PyC) or multilayered PyC/SiC. The neutron fluence was 7.7 × 1025 n/m2 (E > 0.1 MeV), and the irradiation temperature was 800 °C. Interfacial shear properties were evaluated by the fiber push-out test method. A modified shear-lag model was applied to analyze the interfacial shear parameters. Test results indicate that the interfacial debond shear strength and the interfacial friction stress for the multilayer composites were significantly degraded by irradiation. Nevertheless, the multilayer composites retained sufficient interfacial shear properties so that overall composite strength after neutron irradiation was unaffected. The actual mechanism of interphase property decrease for the multilayer composites is unknown. The interfacial shear properties of the irradiated monolayer composites appear unaffected.