Thermal expansion and stress relaxation of metal-matrix composites

The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of a series of Al-6%Si matrix samples, with reinforcements of carbon, SiC, Al₂O₃, or boron fibres, cloths, or ceramic particles was measured in the range 60°–220°C with a dilatometer. The anisotropy of the CTE was measured and found to be very large for specimens unidirectionally reinforced with carbon fibre. Relaxation of stresses due to the different thermal expansion of matrix and reinforcement was studied by using the bending of asymmetrically reinforced samples and the magnitude of the stresses evaluated using bending beam theory.