Prediction of Thermal Expansion Properties of Carbon/Epoxy Laminates for Temperature Variation

This paper is concerned with the prediction of coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of Carbon/Epoxy laminates for temperature variation. Elastic properties and coefficients of thermal expansion in the material principal directions were measured in the range of room temperature to cure temperature and characterized as functions of temperature. By applying the characterized properties to the classical lamination theory, a computational method to predict the change of CTEs of a general laminate for temperature variation was proposed. The coefficients of thermal expansion of various angle-ply laminates were measured and compared with those predicted. Experimental results show that the changes of CTEs of a general laminate for temperature variation can be predicted well by using the proposed method.