Thermal expansion and the bi-material strip

This teaching and learning package (TLP) is based on lab work in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. The TLP provides an introduction to the topic of thermal expansion, and its application, together with the different stiffness of materials, in the bi-material strip. The TLP leads you through experiments to measure Young's Modulus from the deflection of a cantilever beam, and to estimate the boiling temperature of nitrogen and the expansivity of a polycarbonate material from the curvature of a bi-material strip immersed in liquid nitrogen.

Photograph of liquid nitrogen being poured on to a bimaterial strip

Aims Before you start Introduction Experiment: Measurement of Young's modulus Results: Measurement of Young's modulus Simulation: Measurement of Young's modulus Origin of thermal expansion The bi-material strip Experiment: Estimating the boiling temperature of nitrogen Results: Estimating the boiling temperature of nitrogen Experiment: Measuring the thermal expansivity of polycarbonate Results: Measuring the thermal expansivity of polycarbonate Summary Questions Going further

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First created: 2004. Revised: August 2006.