All-oxide ceramic matrix composites (OCMC) based on low cost 3M Nextel™ 610 fabrics

Cost reduction without loss of quality is a key factor during the development of engineering materials. This is particularly true for oxide fibers, which can represent up to 70 % of the real cost of all-oxide ceramic matrix composites (OCMC). Therefore, the objective of this work is to produce and evaluate OCMCs based on novel low-cost Nextel (TM) 610 fiber fabrics with deniers of 3000-20,000. Experiments were divided into fiber and composite characterizations. In general, fiber bundles with higher denier show lower apparent strength; although fiber characteristic strength is very similar for bundles with denier below 4500. Composite characterization showed that certain properties, such as tensile strength, are in accordance to the measured fiber characteristic strength. Other properties like interlaminar shear strength and notch sensitivity did not depend on the type of fabric used. In summary, composites with the new fiber fabrics were successfully produced, showing properties similar to commercially available OCMCs.