ESTIMATION OF DIRECTIONAL-DEPENDENT THERMAL-PROPERTIES IN A CARBON-CARBON COMPOSITE

This paper presents a laboratory method to measure the thermal propert ies of a carbon-carbon composite material that is characterized by an orthotropic thermal conductivity and isotropic volumetric heat capacit y. Thermal properties are estimated using parameter estimation techniq ues with measured surface heat flux and temperature histories for an e xperiment with two-dimensional heat flow. Thermal properties were dete rmined for a temperature range of 65-400 degrees C. The thermal conduc tivity parallel to the fibers is 12-15 times larger than the conductiv ity normal to the fiber. The results show excellent agreement with sep arate one-dimensional results, demonstrating a presumed quadratic rela tionship with temperature. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.