Ultrasonic characterization of ceramic fibres at ambient and elevated temperatures

A non-destructive laser-generated ultrasonic inspection system has been developed to evaluate the elastic properties of ceramic fibres. The approach uses a pulsed Nd:YAG laser to excite ultrasonic signals in fibres. The signal is detected by a piezoelectric acoustic emission transducer to obtain the appropriate frequency response suitable for an elastically one-dimensional sample. By using a differential time-of-flight system, a very accurate measure of the velocity can be obtained in the fibre, with a total scatter of less than 0.5%. This approach has been used to investigate the Young's modulus of polycrystalline carbon and boron fibres as a function of stress. Both types of fibres were found to have a Young's modulus increase as greater applied loads were imposed. The carbon and boron fibres, along with silicon carbide fibres, were evaluated at elevated temperatures up to 700 °C. The carbon fibres were found to have an immediate decrease in the Young's modulus as the temperature was increased, due to oxidation of the carbon. The Young's modulus of the boron fibres decreased only at temperatures higher than 200 °C, probably the result of a microstructural transformation or relaxation. The silicon carbide fibres were found to have no significant change in the elastic properties up to 700 °C. The ultrasonic technique was also applied to polycrystalline alumina fibres and fibre tows between ambient temperature and 1200 °C in a specially designed furnace. Using this technique, it was possible to distinguish the changes in the elasticity of the alumina fibres as they were processed into -alumina. The change in the Young's modulus was readily apparent during phase transformations to -alumina. In addition, the ultrasonic velocity can be used to infer information concerning any coatings that were applied to the alumina fibres. This can be used to aid in the quantification of the coating thickness and uniformity. The application of the ultrasonic inspection system has demonstrated the ability to determine rapidly and non-destructively the elastic properties in ceramic fibres. The information gained from the measurements can be used as a quality assurance technique, or can be modified to be a real-time process control/process monitoring system.