Anisotropy of the thermal expansion in Mg fibre composites

The dilatation characteristics of Mg-10 vol.% Saffil fibre composites were measured in the temperature range 20-380 °C. The planes of a 2D-random fibre array are either parallel or transverse (perpendicular) to the longitudinal axis of the specimen (LD and TD, respectively). During heating, the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the LD composite first increases up to 250 °C and then decreases, while the CTE of the TD composite increases over the whole temperature range.