Coefficient of Thermal Expansion for Composites with Randomly Oriented Fibers

Abstract

The effective coefficient of thermal expansion is derived for fiber com posites in two dimensional quasi-isotropic form and three-dimensional isotropic form. These systems represent constructions that have fibers ran domly oriented in a plane and in three dimensions. The effective coeffi cients of thermal expansion are related to the thermal-mechanical proper ties of individual fiber and matrix phases. These results are put into asymp totic forms appropriate to very stiff fiber systems. The asymptotic predic tions are evaluated against the complete forms, and both results are com pared with an experimental result.