Computational Micromechanics Analysis of the Effects of Bundle Packing and Interphase Addition on the Effective Electrical and Thermal Transverse Conductivity of Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Nanocomposites (Student Paper)

Abstract

Computational micromechanics techniques are applied towards determining the effective thermal and electrical conductivity of carbon nanotube-polymer nanocomposites containing fully aligned SWCNTs. Various representative volume element configurations at a wide range of CNT volume fractions are used in order to quantify the relative impact of clustering and nanoscale effects on both the effective thermal conductivity and the effective electrical conductivity of nanocomposites. The effect of clustering is studied in detail using several configurations with a varying degree of bundle packing. A parametric study in terms of interphase thickness and conductivity is also conducted for the effective thermal and electrical conductivities. Several percolation events are observed for the well dispersed and the clustered configurations. This study also proposes an in-depth analysis assessing the effects of percolation on the effective thermal and electrical conductivities of nanocomposites.