Approach to evaluation of the overall strengthening and toughening effect of continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites

Continuous fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites (CFCCs) are considered to be very promising thermal structural materials due to their strength and toughness. An approach for describing the strength and toughness of CFCCs based on knowledge of the toughening and strengthening mechanisms of CFCCs and analyses of the related energies during loading of CFCCs is proposed in the present work. Comparative analyses were undertaken on the mechanical properties of different CFCCs and the results of the proposed approach. Results showed that the proposed approach could be adopted simply and conveniently to evaluate the overall strengthening and toughening effect of CFCCs.