2. CMC behavior

2.1 Mechanical engineering

Unlike metal-matrix composites (MMCs), in which the fibers are primarily intended to stiffen a ductile matrix, for CMCs, as well as for long-fiber C/Cs and CMOs (organic-matrix composites), the matrix ensures adequate mechanical strength in bending, shear and compression for a generally dense (and more or less entangled for woven) fibrous network. What's more, in the case of CMCs, an additional synergy is created between the fibers and the matrix, as the fibers "defragilize" an initially brittle ceramic matrix, provided an appropriate interphase is introduced.

The fact that CMCs are produced from a texture consisting of yarns, themselves composed of fibers (or monofilaments), gives these materials an anisotropic character, both mechanical...