Experimental Study and Model Simulation of the Effective Thermal Conductivity of Polymer/Carbonaceous Nanocomposites

Abstract

Improving the thermal conductivity of polymer/carbonaceous nanocomposites is still an interesting topic and is affected by a number of factors, such as polymer/nanofiller interaction, dispersion quality and agglomerate formation. In the present work, several polymer/nanocomposite types based on two different linear low-density polyethylenes (LLDPEs), as well as polylactic acid (PLA), reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or a combination of CNTs/carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with graphene oxide (GO) at various loadings were investigated. The thermal diffusivity results for monofiller and hybrid nanocomposites with varying nanofiller loadings were analyzed. Additionally, existing models were employed to simulate the thermal conductivity using experimental data of both monofiller and hybrid nanocomposites. The model parameter values were utilized to explore the mechanism of the thermal conductivity increase, the role of CNTs and the synergistic effects of hybrid nanocomposites.