Effect of Continuous-distribution Inter-phase on the Thermal Conductivity of SiCp/Al Composites by Numerical Simulation Method

Abstract

Thermal conductivity of SiC particles-reinforced Al matrix (SiCp/Al) composites was simulated by finite element method (FEM), in which the models of SiC particles coated with inter-phase in the aluminum matrix was es- tablished. The effects of inter-phase types and thickness on the thermal conductivity of composites were investigated. The results show that, when the inter-phase combines ideally with SiC and Al which distributes continuously on the surface of SiCp, the thermal conductivity of composites inter-phase acts like a role of iner-layer. With increase of thermal conductivity of inter-layer, the thermal conductivity of the composites increases quickly at first and slowly af- ferwards. The variation of thermal conductivity of the composites depends on the ratio of inter-layer thickness (t) to the SiCp diameter (a). When the t/a value is very small or very large, the variation of the thermal conductivity is very small, while t/a is small, the variation of thermal conductivity of the composites is related to thermal conductivity of the inter-layer.