A numerical study on the thermal expansion coefficients of fiber

6
concentration from pure metal to pure ceramic, using the aluminum–silicon carbide
composite as a model system. Particular attention was devoted to the effects of phase
connectivity, since other geometrical factors such as the phase shape and particle
distribution play a negligible role in affecting the overall coefficient of thermal
expansion (CTE) of the composite.
Islam et al. (2001) studied the linear thermal expansion coefficients of
unidirectional composites systematically by the finite element method. Thermal
expansion coefficients were first determined for composites with perfectly bonded
interface between fiber and matrix. Results are compared with available experimental
and analytical results. Next cracks caused by debonding along the fiber-matrix
interface were studied to investigate the effects of interface cracking on the
transverse thermal expansion coefficients.
A combined experimental and <strong>numerical</strong> methodology for the evaluation of fiber
properties from the composite macro-data was presented by Rupnowski et al. (2005).
The methodology was based on the measurements of the elastic and thermal macro
properties of unidirectional and woven composites by the three-component oscillator
resonance method and dilatometry. It is then followed by extraction of the fiber
properties using the Eshelby/Mori-Tanaka model for unidirectional and finite
element representative unit cells for woven systems.
The aim of this <strong>study</strong> is to determine the thermal expansion coefficients of
composite materials using finite element method. A representative unit cell is used to
model the micro-structure of composite materials and the obtained results are
compared with available experimental data and analytical methods. It has been seen
that finite element method is a good approach to find the thermal expansion
coefficients of composite materials.