The mechanical and repair behavior of damaged carbon/carbon composites

With the aim of understanding the effect of defect types on the mechanical performance of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites, three kinds of defects such as circle arc, square, and triangle shapes were prefabricated on their surfaces. The results show that the prefabricated defects damage the flexural strength of C/C composites compared to the pristine sample (101 ± 6 MPa). The flexural strength of C/C decreased by 30.84%, 45.84%, and 42.58% corresponding to the circle arc, square, and triangle type defects respectively. The defect-repair method with Ni-based solder as the additive was employed to repair the damaged C/C composites. After repair, the stress concentration of C/C composites decreases, and there is a good connection between carbon fiber and the repaired solder so that the load can be transferred continuously, therefore the flexural strength of C/C composites can be improved by 20–28%.