The effects of intrinsic thermal conductivity, carbon filler geometry, and interface thermal resistance on the effective thermal conductivity of polymer composites were investigated. It was found that the length of carbon fillers and the interface thermal resistance were the dominant factors in determining the effective thermal conductivity of the composites. The authors suggest that the most thermally conductive polymer composite would contain long carbon nanofibers that have undergone surface functionalization ...
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have extremely high thermal conductivity and can raise the thermal conductivity of a polymer matrix when used as an additive. Previous research has shown that random CNT orientation in polymer matrices gives a much lower thermal conductivity value than a specific alignment direction. This project tested the thermal conductivity of oils and polymers. Results were encouraging, with the thermal conductivity of the composites increasing linearly with the ...
