The effects of the addition of three different fillers to a polymer matrix on the thermo-physical properties of the resulting composites were investigated by the authors. Boron nitride, synthetic diamond, and silicon nitride were used as the fillers (up to 2 vol. %), and it was found that their addition did increase the thermal conductivity relative to that of the pure epoxy matrix. Furthermore, it was determined that the thermal conductivities of ...
High-strength steel used in bolts was tested for its thermo-physical properties in order to determine how steel bolts would respond in a fire. It was determined that the thermal and mechanical properties of the steel were dependent on temperature, and that the thermal conductivity of the steel was also dependent on carbon content. The thermal conductivity of the three types of steel that were tested was found to be the ...
The authors have developed a method for the functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The functionalization of the SWCNTs is useful in helping to produce a better dispersion of nanotubes throughout a polymer matrix. Better dispersion of nanotubes was thought to result in an improvement in the mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of nanocomposite polymers. It was determined that the method produced effective surface modification of the nanotubes. The elastic ...
The authors look into problems with accurately measuring thermal conductivity of liquid samples. Among these problems is the onset of natural convection during the measurement of thermal properties, which may lead to skewed values reported after characterization. The effect of natural convection is analyzed numerically for the transient plane source method in order to determine at what time during an analysis the convection causes incorrect output data. The effect of ...
In this experiment, the thermal conductivity of several composites, with varying matrix composition and boron nitride nanotubes fillers, was investigated. Poly(methyl methacrylate), polystyrene, poly(vinyl butyral) and poly(ethylene vinyl alcohol) were the matrix compositions analyzed. The results indicated that with the addition of the boron nitride nanotube fillers, there was a 20-fold increase in the thermal conductivity of the polymer. Several other properties were analyzed alongside of thermal ...
