Evaluating unidirectional composite thermal conductivities through engineered interphase

ABSTRACT

Effect of fibre/matrix interphase parameters, including thickness and material properties on the equivalent thermal conductivities of unidirectional fibre-reinforced polymer composites. A unit cell-based micromechanical method is proposed to evaluate the thermal conductivities of unidirectional multi-phase composites. The longitudinal thermal conductivity of unidirectional fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composites is seen to be independent of interphase region. When the thermal conductivity of interphase is higher than that of matrix, the increase of interphase thickness leads to an improvement in transverse thermal conductivity of fibre-reinforced polymer composites. The influences of fibre volume fraction, orientation angle and shape of cross-section as well as temperature on the thermal conducting behaviour are widely examined. The model predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data reported in the literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Fibrous composite
• thermal conductivity
• interphase
• micromechanics
• unit cell model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

M. K. Hassanzadeh-Aghdam received PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Guilan in 2018.

R. Ansari received PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Guilan in 2008. From 2019 onwards he is working as Professor in department of Mechanical Engineering in University of Guilan.