Failure statistics of an oxide-oxide ceramic composite

An alumina fiber-alumina matrix-tin oxide fiber coating oxide-oxide filament wound ceramic composite was tested under tensile and torque loads to determine the longitudinal and transverse tensile and the in-plane shear ultimate strength Weibull parameters. Nineteen flat longitudinal tensile tests, twenty-four tubular transverse tensile tests and thirty-one tubular torsion shear tests were conducted to yield Weibull parameters of 10.33, 7.68 and 2.86, respectively. The considerable scatter, as reflected by the low Weibull parameters is, in part, believed to be due to the presence of several failure modes and specimen bending. A complete characterization of the ceramic composite as a transversely isotropic material is presented using additional longitudinal and transverse compression data and stiffness data.