Measurement of Co-efficient of Thermal Expansion of CFRP Strut for IRS-1C Spacecraft

The measurement of coefficient of thermal expansion of CFRP strut which is planned to be used in Indian Remote Sensing Spacecraft (IRS-1C) has been measured from -10°C to +50°C using an electronic digital indicator. A suitable test rig was designed and fabricated to carry out this measurement in the required temperature range. The coefficient of the thermal expansion results obtained with this testing and technique are accurate to ± 13.4% and the repeatability of this measurement is better than ± 1.3%.