Unit-Cell Approach for C/C Process and Mechanical Modeling

The properties of carbon-carbon composites often exhibit significant variability due to variations in processing conditions and spatial variations inherent in the material structure of fabric-reinforced composite materials. The proposed Phase II program will address these issues by fabricating C/C components in an L-bracket or other suitable geometry, performing targeted mechanical tests and micro-CT inspections to characterize the material, extending the simulation tools that were demonstrated in the Phase I effort, integrating them together by developing appropriate software tools to facilitate data transfer, and validating the simulation workflow through comparisons with historical data and data to be gathered in the Phase II effort. The proposed effort will enhance and generalize the novel methods of simulating the processing and mechanical response of C/C materials throughout the fabrication process that were demonstrated in Phase I. The methods natively account for spatial variation in material structure and variations in processing conditions, and could be adapted to in future work to be applicable for more different fiber materials, matrix precursor materials, and more complicated fiber architectures. The integration of the simulation tools will provide an efficient means by which changes in processing parameters can be connected to end-state mechanical performance.