Thermal Conductivity Modeling and Characterization for Woven Fabric Polymer Composites Modified With Nanofillers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Woven fabric polymer (WFP) composites inherently possess low thermal conductivity, which limits their applications in thermal management. Three types of nanofillers, including particle‐type nano zinc oxide (nano‐ZnO), rod‐type carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and flake‐type graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), are selected based on their geometrical morphologies. Their effects on the thermal conductive characteristics of WFP composites are systematically analyzed. Based on the effective medium theory (EMT), an analytical method is proposed to predict the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of WFP material systems. This strategy quantifies the influence dimensions and mass fraction of nanofillers on the ETC of material systems. Single‐sided constant‐temperature (SSCT) heat transfer experiments show that the average steady‐state (ASS) temperature of the specimens increases with increasing nanofiller mass fraction, reaching enhancements of 18.71% for 3 wt.% GNPs, 10.45% for 3 wt.% CNTs, and 2.57% for 3 wt.% nano‐ZnO. The effectiveness of the analytical method is validated through finite element (FE) analysis and experiments. The interphase thermal conduction models are established based on the geometrical morphologies of the nanofillers and the interphase bonding states in WFP composites, which explain the heat transfer mechanism of WFP composites modified with different nanofillers.