Cross-property connections involving thermal diffusivity and thermal expansion, and their extension to transversely isotropic constituents

Abstract Cross-property connections for matrix composites, that interrelate changes in different effective properties owing to the presence of inhomogeneities, are considered. The connections derived earlier where the overall anisotropy was due to non-randomly oriented inhomogeneities (the materials involved being isotropic), are extended to transversely isotropic (TI) matrices and inhomogeneities. In addition, cross-property connections involving thermal diffusivity and thermal expansion to changes in electrical resistivity are given. Finally, computational simulations are performed, which show excellent agreement with the theoretical cross-property predictions.