A Study on Nanocomposites Behavior at Heating

Abstract

Published literature is rich with investigations of mechanical properties of composites, but fewer publications are focused on thermal properties. Several publications addressing different theoretical approaches for predicting thermal conductivity of composite materials have been noted. However, one of the publications has discussed both transverse and axial thermal conductivity of a carbon fiber composite. A non-linear increase in the thermal conductivity was reported with the increase of fiber volume fraction of plain weaves and no theoretical models are able to predict this non-linearity. The result of literature search even further identified the necessity and importance of carrying out further investigations on thermal behavior of composites materials. Thermal conductivity of composites is anisotropic in nature and data about thermal conductivity of resin is known to reduce stresses related to shrinkage of composites during cure and mismatch in thermal expansion coefficients. Before conducting experiments to determine thermal conductivity of various composites, knowledge about effect of different parameters influencing thermal conductivity is essential. This paper deals with an analytical study on few nanocomposites behavior at heating.