Measurement of Thermal Conductivity of Epoxy Resin Reinforced With Different Weight Ratios of Glass and Carbon Powders

Abstract

The effect of thermal conductivity was studied on the composites prepared before and after reinforcement with different weight fractions (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 wt %), using a Disc Lee's device, and the dispersion of the filler was studied by morphological analysis of the complexes using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The (SEM) of glass composite powders, showed a smooth surface with a chance of forming very few voids, clusters and blisters on the surface of the sample, which increased with the increase of the weight fractions of the filled powder. While the composites filled with carbon powders show smooth and free from micro-cracks with the chance of formation of some flakes on the surface, whereby, as the weight concentrations of powders rise, transform to rough surface with micro-cracks and voids which revealing that the surface was porous. The results also showed that adding these powders to the epoxy resin has an effect on the thermal conductivity of the prepared composites, implying that there is a direct relationship between the thermal conductivity as a function of the weight ratios of the reinforcing materials, as the thermal conductivity values increase with the increase in the weight ratios for all samples, but differ from one reinforcement to another, with the highest value being at a weight ratio of (60 wt %), which raised the conductivity by (34.511%±0.031) and (26.488%±0.045) for glass and carbon composites, respectively, in comparison to pure epoxy resin. The results also revealed that the thermal conductivity of epoxy glass composites is greater than that of carbon composites at all reinforcing material weight fractions.