Influence of MWCNTs additives on the thermal conductivity of HA–MWCNTs composite

Abstract

Possible changes in the temperature dependence of the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the hydroxyapatite (HA) composite with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with small amounts of MWCNTs additives (0.5 wt%) were analyzed in comparison with the dependence of HA matrix without additives. It was found that MWCNTs can contribute to the increase of the thermal conductivity coefficient. The magnitude of the effect of increasing thermal conductivity varies from relatively small values (about 1%) to a significant increase up to ∼ 20 times that depending on the interaction at the HA–MWCNTs interface and the degree of homogeneity of the MWCNTs distribution in the HA matrix. It was found that long-term high-temperature annealing can lead to changes in the anisotropy, structure, and properties of MWCNTs due to oxidation effects, which can influence the resulting composite properties.