Recently, polymer composites reinforced with low fractions of thermomiotic nanoceramics have triggered a lot of research. The efforts have been focused on achieving considerable reduction of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of polymeric materials without deterioration of other physical properties. In this context, polyethylene (PE) composites reinforced with different loads of Al 2 Mo 3 O 12 nanofillers (0.5-4 mass %) were fabricated by micro-compounding. To enhance the interfacial interaction between the two components, chemical functionalization of Al 2 Mo 3 O 12 was performed with vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMS) prior to micro-compounding. Infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetry demonstrated the successful grafting of VTMS on the Al 2 Mo 3 O 12 surface. The composites showed strongly decreased CTEs, up to 46 % reduction for loadings of 4 mass % compared with neat PE, suggesting intimate filler-matrix interactions. The variation of CTEs of the composites in terms of the filler fraction was successfully described by Turner's model allowing calculation of the bulk modulus of monoclinic Al 2 Mo 3 O 12 (13.6 ± 2.6 GPa), in agreement with the value obtained by an ultrasonic method. The thermal stability of the composites was improved, although the addition of functionalized fillers decreased the degree of crystallinity of the PE to a small extent. The Young's modulus and yield strength of the composites increased from 6.6 to 19.1 % and 4.0-6.0 %, respectively, supporting the existence of strong filler-matrix interactions, contributing to an efficient load transfer. Finite element analysis of thermal stresses Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

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Magnesium boron fibrous composites have been used in the aeronautical/aerospace due to their resistance/weight properties. The focus of the study was to collect detailed behaviour of thermal expansion for controlled rates of heating and thermal cycles through experiments. The results were compared with Schapery model and rule of mixtures for a range of temperatures and fibre orientations. The measured valuesof coefficient of thermal expansion values were in good agreement with the theoretical calculations for the considered 0 and 60 degrees fibre orientations. The behaviour for 90 degrees orientation was dominated by the thermal expansion of magnesium matrix as expected.