Compressive residual thermal stress induced crack deflection in carbon nanotube-doped carbon/carbon composites

Introducing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a promising method to improve the strength and toughness of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites. Herein, a new reinforcing mechanism called “compressive residual thermal stress (RTS) induced crack deflection” has been reported. Concretely, CNTs, with different loading content, were introduced by EPD method. Results showed that the CNT content had little influence on CNT-induced matrix refinement. However, the strength of the CNT-doped C/C composites increased with the rising content of CNTs and cracks could only deflect when the CNT interface reached a certain thickness. A theory based on compressive RTS induced crack deflection was built to interpret this discrepancy. Tensile stress existed at the interface in pure C/C composites, while compressive stress occurred and increased with the rising thickness of the CNT interface, which were verified by finite element analysis and Raman test. Calculation revealed that compressive stress exceeded 30 MPa at the crack tip could make the crack deflection happen more easily since it released more strain energy than penetration.