Carbon/liquid-crystal polymer composites were formulated. Composites containing one of three types of carbon filler, composites containing two types of carbon filler, and composites containing all three types of carbon filler were prepared to test not only the effect of each filler on the thermal conductivity of the composite, but also the effect of combining fillers. The anisotropic method on a TPS system was used for the thermal conductivity measurements. ...
Conductive carbon fillers (carbon black, carbon fiber, and synthetic graphite particles) were added to Vectra A950RX liquid crystal polymer and the axial and radial thermal conductivities were determined experimentally for each composite. The addition of Thermocarb TC-300 synthetic graphite caused the largest increase in thermal conductivity, with in-plane thermal conductivity values reaching greater than 20 W/m K which is the minimum value for use in fuel cells. Mathematical models ...
The use of sensors for the determination of content ratio in binary mixtures of fluids was investigated. The sensors were manufactured with various layouts of metal foil encapsulated by Kapton. Due to the difference in thermal conductivity between two fluids in a mixture, the thermal conductivity of the mixture is dependent on the ratio of the fluids. This method could be used in the future in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (...
The development of hydrogen storage materials for use in light-duty vehicles is investigated in this paper, which is still a ways off until commercial use. High-pressure metal hydrides (HPMH) are specifically studied here, at varying temperatures. The transient plane source (TPS) technique is used to measure the thermal conductivity and specific heat of the prepared hydride materials. Porosity and density are also important physical factors to consider when dealing with ...
This thesis looked at the relationship between thermal conductivity and compression and saturation in three different fuel cell diffusion media (DM). The stress-strain relationship of the materials was investigated using an optical microscope, and thermal conductivity was measured by a thermal constants analyzer. A theoretical model of the maximum through-plane thermal conductivity was developed as a function of compression and saturation....
