THERMAL-EXPANSION BEHAVIOR OF UNIDIRECTIONAL AND BIDIRECTIONAL KEVLAR-EPOXY COMPOSITES

The coefficients of thermal expansion, α, of unidirectionally and bi directionally reinforced Kevlar 49/PR-286 composites are reported for the temperature range 25-150°C. Composite thermal expansion is shown to be highly anisotropic with the variation in α considerably greater for multi- axially reinforced composites than for unidirectional composites. Compar ison with data for HTS graphite/epoxy composites demonstrates that the thermal expansion behavior of Kevlar/epoxy composites is considerably more anisotropic. Elastic properties are also reported and coupled with the thermal expan sion data, calculations based on various models for predicting thermal expansion behavior are presented. It is shown that calculated values of thermal expansion are in close agreement with those measured. © 1979, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.