Transverse thermos-mechanical behaviour of continuous carbon fiber reinforced ultra-high temperature ceramics

Linear thermal expansion coefficients of UHTCMCs based on ZrB2-matrix reinforced with 45 vol% of unidirectional continuous carbon fibers is studied along the transverse direction. By comparing the experimental curves with the expected ones from the theoretical models, it is shown how the models account for the effect of turbostratic microstructure of the pitch-derived carbon fibers upon the thermoelastic properties of the composites. The thermo-elastic mechanics analysis can also shed light on the contribution of the fibers on the macroscopic behavior of the composites.