A study on thermal conductivity of polymer nanocomposites

In this work, graphite powder (400 nm) which has high thermal conductivity was mixed with HDPE in the Brabender Plasticorder mixer in certain conditions. Nanocomposites containing (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 16 percent) volume fractions of graphite were fabricated. Thermal conductivity of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)-graphite nanocomposites is investigated experimentally and the results are compared with the theoretical models. A Hot-disk method is used to measure the thermal conductivity of nanocomposites consisting (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 16 percent) volume fractions of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix filled with graphite. Up to 6 percent volume of graphite, Russell model predict the thermal conductivity best.Also the surface morphology of the polymer nanocomposites was searched by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in different magnifications and it can be said that graphite particles dispersed almost homogenously in polymer matrix.