Enhanced in‐plane and through‐plane thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of polyamide 4.6 composites loaded with hybrid carbon fiber, synthetic graphite and graphene

Abstract

AbstractPolyamide 4.6 has excellent properties, such as high temperature resistance, crystallinity, fatigue resistance, melting temperature, excellent creep resistance, toughness, and good wear properties, but low thermal conductivity values. For this reason, its use in thermal applications has been limited. In this study, its use in thermal applications can be increased by increasing its thermal conductivity with carbon‐based fillers and reinforcements added to the PA46 structure. The aim of this study is to examine the carbon fiber (CF), synthetic graphite (SG) and graphene nanoplatelet (G) loading on the mechanical, thermal, physical, and electrical properties of polyamide 4.6, which are produced using co‐ rotating twin‐screw extrusion. Tensile and flexural strength of polyamide 4.6 increased with the addition of CF at all weight fractions. The highest electrical conductivity value was measured as 4.01 S/cm in PA46‐20CF‐20SG‐3G composite material. The highest in‐plane thermal conductivity achieved in this study at 20 wt% CF, 20 wt% synthetic graphite, and 5 wt% graphene loading was 20.43 W/mK. However, the highest through‐plane thermal conductivity value was obtained to be 4.19 W/mK at 20 wt% CF. Graphene and synthetic graphite are more efficient to increase the in‐plane thermal conductivity, while CF is more efficient to increase the through‐plane thermal conductivity.