Thermal expansion of polymers and fibre composites is an important design parameter in cryogenics. Measurements have been carried out with a laser interference dilatometer and an inductive dilatometer. Parameters which might influence the thermal expansion have been investigated. For polymers the influence of annealing has been studied. Annealing at a temperature near to the main glass transition yielded deviations of about 5% compared to those of untreated samples.
The very large expansion of polymers can be drastically varied by reinforcement with fibres of different fibre arrangements. For carbon fibre angle-plies even negative expansion can be achieved (Humphreys, E.A. and Rosen, B.W., Properties analysis of laminates. In Engineered Materials Handbook, Vol. 1, Composites. ASM International, USA, 1987, p. 226). This behaviour arises from thermally induced shear stresses between the laminates. For carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CRPs) with different fibre angles the influences of thermal cycling, mechanical creep loading and geometrical shape (plates, half-tubes and tubes) on the expansion behaviour has been investigated. The expansion is influenced in a different manner by thermal cycling and mechanical creep loading. The largest effects arise from thermal cycling and mechanical creep loading of CRPs. The geometrical shape of the specimens influences the expansion behaviour remarkably. The expansion of tubes is smaller compared to that of plates. The reason is coupling of radial and azimuthal components existing for cylindrical samples.