Calibration of 3D Woven Preform Design Code for CMC Materials

Mechanical and thermal performance of CMC components benefit from low part count, integrally fabricated designs of 3D woven reinforcement. The advantages of these designs include the elimination for the need for post-fabrication mechanical attachment and the higher interlaminar properties offered by the through thickness paths of the fibers within the 3D preform architectures. The specific innovations MR&D is proposing are to improve the preform geometry definition through the use of the Kansas State University digital element approach, improve the material properties calculation module using a modified unit cell algorithm associated with the new geometry, and enhance the code calibration through additional CMC fabrication, imaging and material property testing.