From mechanics to thermodynamics: A relation between the brittleness and the thermal expansivity for polymers

The isobaric thermal expansivity is an underestimated property. The entire composite structures disintegrate into pieces on heating – without the use of any mechanical force -when the constituents have significantly different expansivities. While one typically tries to relate mechanical properties among themselves and thermodynamic ones among themselves too, we provide an equation relating the linear isobaric expansivity to the brittleness B for a number of polymers with a large variety of chemical structures and consequently with a large variety of properties.