Use of the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) approach in the design of improved-performance fiber-reinforced SiC/SiC ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs)

Abstract

New materials are traditionally developed using costly and time-consuming trial-and-error experimental efforts. This is followed by an even lengthier material-certification process. Consequently, it takes 10 to 20 years before a newly-discovered material is commercially employed. An alternative approach to the development of new materials is the so-called materials-by-design approach within which a material is treated as a complex hierarchical system, and its design and optimization is carried out by employing computer-aided engineering analyses, predictive tools and available material databases. In the present work, the materials-by-design approach is utilized to design a grade of fiber-reinforced (FR) SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), the type of materials which are currently being used in stationary components, and are considered for use in rotating components, of the hot sections of gas-turbine engines. Towards that end, a number of mathematical functions and numerical models are developed which relate CMC constituents’ (fibers, fiber coating and matrix) microstructure and their properties to the properties and performance of the CMC as a whole. To validate the newly-developed materials-by-design approach, comparisons are made between experimentally measured and computationally predicted selected CMC mechanical properties. Then an optimization procedure is employed to determine the chemical makeup and processing routes for the CMC constituents so that the selected mechanical properties of the CMCs are increased to a preset target level.

Keywords

• ceramic-matrix composites
• materials-by-design approach
• Materials Genome Initiative