Experimental Investigation on Thermal Behaviour of Silicon Carbide (SiC) based Polymer Composites under Hygrothermal Conditions

Abstract

The thermal management of electronic devices is a critical component of their performance. Due to the emergence and evolution of new technologies, the wide use of electronic devices is increased in the past decade in the field of marine, automobile and other stationary applications. The need for effective thermal management in these applications has become more critical. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the various challenges that face the development of new composite materials, as epoxy-based composites are the latest trend of materials widely used in many areas. But their thermal conductivity behaves poorly in moisture and thermal conditions. This work attempts to study the behaviour of silicon carbide and E glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite under hygrothermal and compressive loads. Specimens are also tested for moisture absorption to calculate the hygro strains of a specimen. E-glass fiber is fixed to 15% and varied 10%, 20% and 30% of SiC in the fabrication of hybrid polymer composite using the hand-layup technique. These specimens undergo tensile, flexural, hardness and thermal conductivity tests, revealing the tensile strength, thermal, flexural strength, hardness and thermal conductivity of proposed specimens. The behaviour of the specimens is compared for all conditions with moisture at room temperature, 80 deg C and 150 deg C.