Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of Polymer Composites Exposed to Fire Zhenyu Zhang Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Mechanics Scott W. Case, Chair Brian Y. Lattimer Surot Thangjitham Scott Hendricks Carin L. Roberts-Wollmann June 29, 2010 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: Polymer Composites, Fire, Thermo-Mechanical Behavior, Compressive Failure, Finite Element Analysis Copyright © 2010 by Zhenyu Zhang