To improve the thermal conductivity of polymeric matrixes, conducting fillers were added to polymers, specifically graphite, having good thermal conductivity and dispersibility. Exfoliated graphite (EG) and graphite nanoplatelets (GNP) are excellent alternatives to metal and carbon as conductive polymer composites, through solution mixing and melt blending techniques. Thermal conductivity of composites was measured by a thermal analyzer, using the transient plane source (TPS) method. Solid-state shear milling treated composites showed a significant enhancement in thermal properties compared to untreated samples.
Nano-sized materials with large aspect ratios are found to be effective as second fillers for the formation of 3D thermally conductive networks in polymer composites. In this study, multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) was incorporated as second filler for polymer composites. A thermal analyzer was used to measure thermal conductivity of composites at room temperature. Expanded graphite and MWCNT, as fillers, effectively enhanced thermal conductivity of the composites due to its unique structure.
One way to improve thermal and electrical conductivity of conventional polymers is by combining polymer matrices with highly conductive fillers. This study involves an analysis of electrical and thermal conductivities of nonirradiated and irradiated samples of ethylene vinyl acetate 18 (EVA18) containing expanded graphite (EG) or SDS-EG. Thermal conductivity measurements were at room temperature. An increase in thermal conductivity was found with increasing filler content in all investigated samples, due to the filler having a higher thermal conductivity than EVA.
In this study, expanded graphite (EG) was crushed and the resulting composites were filled with various amounts of EG using a melt-mix method. Thermal conductivity was then analyzed to investigate the possible synergistic enhancement through self-hybridization. Thermal conductivity was measured at an ambient temperature and normal pressure. Composites filled with 10 wt% EG and wEG fillers improved thermal conductivity, compared to composites containing one type of filler at 20 wt%.
