Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T21:58:11.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nondestructive investigation of damage in composites using x-ray tomographic microscopy (XTM)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

J.H. Kinney
Affiliation:
Chemistry and Materials Science Department, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551
S.R. Stock
Affiliation:
School of Materials Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
M.C. Nichols
Affiliation:
Materials Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94550
U. Bonse
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Federal Republic of Germany
T.M. Breunig
Affiliation:
School of Materials Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
R.A. Saroyan
Affiliation:
Chemistry and Materials Science Department, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551
R. Nusshardt
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Federal Republic of Germany
Q.C. Johnson
Affiliation:
Chemistry and Materials Science Department, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551
F. Busch
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Federal Republic of Germany
S.D. Antolovich
Affiliation:
School of Materials Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
Get access

Abstract

X-ray tomographic microscopy (XTM), utilizing intense, highly collimated synchrotron radiation, has been used to nondestructively image materials structures in three dimensions. The spatial resolution of the technique approaches that of conventional optical microscopy, but XTM does not require polished surfaces or serial sections. We present the results of an XTM investigation of a composite material composed of silicon-carbide fibers in an aluminum matrix. The results reveal the aluminum/silicon-carbide interfaces and show microcracks running along many of the interfaces as well as in the matrix. Excellent contrast is observed between the silicon-carbide sheath of the fiber surrounding the graphite core and the coating at the fiber-matrix interface. The sensitivity to small changes in the linear absorption coefficient allows nondestructive imaging of variations in chemistry between graphite and silicon carbide and between silicon carbide and aluminum. The experimentally determined values of the absorption coefficients of these phases are identical to values published in the literature. For the first time, XTM will allow observation of damage accumulation and crack growth during deformation testing. The availability of such data will greatly improve our understanding of failure in advanced materials.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Amateau, M. F., J. Composite Mater. 10, 279 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2Herman, G.T., Image Reconstruction from Projections: The Fundamentals of Computerized Tomography (Academic Press, New York, 1980).Google Scholar
3Johnson, Q. C., Kinney, J. H., Bonse, U., and Nichols, M. C. (Proc. Mater. Res. Soc. Symp.) (Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, PA, 1986), Vol. 69, p. 203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Elliott, J. C. and Dover, S. D., J. Microscopy 126, 211 (1982).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Elliott, J. C. and Dover, S. D., J. Microscopy 138, 329 (1985).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Seguin, F. H., Burstein, P., Bjorkholm, P. J., Homburger, F., and Adams, R. A., Appl. Opt. 24, 4117 (1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7Stock, S. R., Guvenilir, A., Elliott, J. C., Anderson, P., Dover, S. D., and Bowen, D. K., in Advanced Characterization Techniques for Ceramics (American Ceramic Society, Westerville, OH) (in press).Google Scholar
8Cueman, M. K., Thomas, L. J., Trzaskos, C., and Greskovich, C., in Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, edited by Thompson, D. O. and E, Dale. Chimenti (Plenum Press, New York, 1989), Vol. 8A, p. 431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9Kinney, J. H., Johnson, Q.C., Bonse, U., Nusshardt, R., and Nichols, M. C., SPIE 691, 43 (1986).Google Scholar
10Bonse, U., Johnson, Q., Nichols, M., Nusshardt, R., Krasnicki, S., and Kinney, J., Nucl. Instrum. Methods A246, 644 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11Kinney, J. H., Johnson, Q.C., Saroyan, R.A., Nichols, M.C., Bonse, U., Nusshardt, R., and Pahl, R., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 59, 196 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Bonse, U., Nusshardt, R., Busch, F., Johnson, Q.C., Kinney, J.H., Saroyan, R.A., and Nichols, M.C., Rev. Sci. Instrum. (in press).Google Scholar
13Hirano, T., Usami, K., and Sakamoto, K., Rev. Sci. Instrum. (in press).Google Scholar
14Grodzins, L., Nucl. Instrum. Methods 206, 541 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Kinney, J. H., Johnson, Q., Nichols, M.C., Bonse, U., and Nusshardt, R., Appl. Opt. 25, 4583 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16Nichols, M.C., Kinney, J.H., Bonse, U., Johnson, Q.C., Saroyan, R.A., Nusshardt, R., and Busch, F., Rev. Sci. Instrum. (in press).Google Scholar
17Flannery, B.P., Deckman, H., Roberge, W., and D'Amico, K., Science 237, 1439 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18 The storage ring SPEAR was running at 3.3 GeV and nominally 30 mA. The wiggler field was 1.0 T, only 60% of its rated field strength.Google Scholar
19Plechaty, E. F., in “Tables and Graphs of Photon-Interaction Cross Sections,” Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, UCRL-50400, Vol. 6, Rev. 3 (1981).Google Scholar
20International Tables for X-Ray Crystallography (Kynoch Press, Birmingham, England, 1972), Vol. 4, pp. 6166.Google Scholar
21 The nominal composition of this alloy is from Metals Handbook Desk Reference (American Society for Metals, Metals Park, OH, 1961), 8th ed., Vol. 1, p. 945.Google Scholar
22Martineau, P., Lahaye, M., Pailler, R., Naslain, R., Couzi, M., and Creuge, F., J. Mater. Sci. 19, 2731 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23Friche, W. G., Jr., Scripta Metall. 6, 189 (1972).Google Scholar
24Nutt, S. R. and Wawner, F. E., J. Mater. Sci. 20, 1953 (1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25Lerch, B. A., Hull, D. R., and Leonhardt, T. A., As-Received Microstructures of a SiC/Ti-15–3 Composite, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC, NASA TM-100938 (1988).Google Scholar