Dilatometer setup for low coefficient of thermal expansion materials measurements in the 140 K-250 K temperature range. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Space applications demand light weight materials with excellent dimensional stability for telescopes, optical benches, optical resonators, etc. Glass-ceramics and composite materials can be tuned to reach very low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) at different temperatures. In order to determine such CTEs, very accurate setups are needed. Here we present a dilatometer that is able to measure the CTE of a large variety of materials in the temperature range of 140 K to 250 K. The dilatometer is based on a heterodyne interferometer with nanometer noise levels to measure the expansion of a sample when applying small amplitude controlled temperature signals. In this article, the CTE of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer sample has been determined with an accuracy in the 10-8 K-1 range.

published proceedings

  • Rev Sci Instrum

author list (cited authors)

  • Spannagel, R., Hamann, I., Sanjuan, J., Schuldt, T., Gohlke, M., Johann, U., Weise, D., & Braxmaier, C.

citation count

  • 3

complete list of authors

  • Spannagel, Ruven||Hamann, Ines||Sanjuan, Josep||Schuldt, Thilo||Gohlke, Martin||Johann, Ulrich||Weise, Dennis||Braxmaier, Claus

publication date

  • October 2016