Interferometric studies on thermal expansion behaviour of carbon fibre-reinforced composites.

This paper will present qualitative and quantitative results obtained from measurements on specimens as well as components of continuous fibre-reinforced materials. An interferometric technique, digital Speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI), is used to measure anisotropic material properties. Series of strain analyses have been carried out to yield directional characteristic curves of the coefficient of thermal expansion and qualitative investigations of composite structured proved useful for material understanding.