Capacity Building of Thermal Conductivity in Polymers and Their Composites: A Short Review of the Effect of Various Fillers in Their Composites

Abstract

In industries like automotive, packaging, structural, electrical, and energy harvesting, polymers and polymer composites have been the preferred material due to their lightweight and long-lasting applications. They are potential replacements for the metal structures used in communication devices, microelectronics, electric vehicles, and generators due to their adaptability and flexibility. However, most of the polymers are not thermal conductors and it difficult to use them in application such as high-performance computing systems, aerospace and electronics. The capacity building of thermal conductivity in the polymers and their composites are current objectives in various applications as compared with metals due to the many advantages of polymers; viz. corrosion resistance and ease of processing. Our study of the literature, as described, here outlines three main features, (a) Various fillers in polymer composites play important roles in the effective thermal conductivity, (b) the effect of filler percentage in thermal conductivity, and (c) various processing method and their effect on the thermal conductivity. This review was aimed to benefit the recent trend of industrial requirements and to highlight the fillers used in polymer composites for various applications.

Keywords:

• Filler
• polymer
• polymer composites
• thermal conductivity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).