“…If these data are used to evaluate the residual stress state in the laminate, the expected sign of the residual stresses would be the opposite of that experimentally determined here, as the layers of pure Al 2 O 3 , with larger thermal expansion coefficient, would contract more on cooling than the composite layers and thus, the former layers would be in tension in the laminate. 19,20 This apparent contradiction is clarified looking at the cooling part of the dilatometry curves in Fig. 4.…”