Thermal Expansion and Shrinkage of Unidirectional Composites at Elevated Temperatures.

The model of multiphase media analyzes the effectiveness of describing thermal expansion and shrinkage of unidirectional polymer composites at their uniform heating by linear law. It is shown that the nature of change in thermal deformation as a function of the composite temperature is similar for an unreinforced matrix, and the maximum absolute value of chemical shrinkage is slightly lower than that of a matrix. The calculated deformations describing thermal expansion are compared with experimental deformations obtained in the process of thermal-oxidative destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]