Distribution of fibre pullout length and interface shear strength within a single fibre bundle for an orthogonal 3-D woven Si–Ti–C–O fibre/Si–Ti–C–O matrix composite tested at 1100 °C in air

The distributions of fibre strength, pullout length, and fibre/matrix interface shear strength within a single fibre bundle were investigated for a 3-D woven SiC/SiC composite tensile tested at 1100 °C in air. Fibre pullout lengths were largest at the fibre bundle centre with an embrittled region of approximate width 15 μm at the perimeter. Whereas the fibre strength varied by less than a factor of 2 across the fibre bundle, the fibre/matrix interface shear strength varied by a factor of ∼23 with a minimum (100±16 MPa) at the centre and a maximum (2.25±0.21 GPa) close to the embrittled region. The minimum fibre/matrix interface shear strength required for the transition between pseudo-ductile and brittle behaviour was thus estimated to be 2.25±0.21 GPa for this composite system.