Constitutional Dependence of Thermal Conductivity in Dispersion Composites

Abstract

Theoretical and experimental research has revealed that the effective thermal conductivity of a composite depends on its component materials and structure. Therefore, it is possible to select a specific thermal conductivity for a composite by choosing appropriate materials and designing its structure. For this purpose, a study of the dependencies of thermal conductivity on these constitutional factors is needed. In our previous work, 1) we developed an analytical solution-based thermal conductivity calculation engine, in which are included analytical solutions for thermal conductivity that have so far been derived with various composite models. The constitution of a composite is described by a file written in Extensible Markup Language (XML), which can be easily edited using a text editor or automatically generated by a computer. The engine analyzes the file, recognizes the composite model, and selects the optimal analytical solution for calculating its thermal conductivity. Because of its ease of constitutional design and fast calculation speed, it is ideal for studying patterns of change in thermal conductivity while adjusting the levels of various constitutional parameters. In this study, the accuracy of calculation is evaluated by comparison with data in the literature; the dependencies of thermal conductivity on various constitutional parameters were then investigated for dispersion composites. 2. Accuracy of Calculation