Cantilever creep method for testing ceramic composites and a case study for chemically bonded phosphate ceramic composites reinforced with glass, carbon and basalt fibers, including both experiments and simulations

This paper presented the cantilever beam experiments and the method for creep in chemically bonded ceramics reinforced with glass, carbon, and basalt unidirectional fibers. The ceramic composite samples were fabricated by mixing wollastonite powder and phosphoric acid, through the resonant acoustic mixing technique. The reinforced fibers were added via pultrusion process. The manufactured materials were exposed to high temperature creep tests at 600, 800 and 1000℃, with an annealing time of 1 h, all in air environment. Some examples of real large-scale structures made manually by a company were also included. In order to understand the microstructure, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analysis were included. The presented method is simple and can be used in any inorganic ceramic slurry types, such as geopolymers, phosphate cements, clay-based materials, or Portland cement composites. The sample response in high temperature creep experiments was analyzed with a new but very simple technique, and modeled using finite element analysis over all compositions. Results revealed that fibers have a significant effect on the composite creep when compared to the ceramic without reinforcement, and particularly carbon fibers showed a quite interested effect in reducing the creep effects. Results show the limit of the materials under conditions typically found in fires and other extreme environments.