Thermal Conduction Mechanism Research Articles

Low lattice thermal conductivity of a 5-8-peanut-shaped carbon nanotube.

5-8-defects are well-known in graphene and other 2D carbon structures, but not well-studied in one dimensional (1D) carbon materials. Here, we design a peanut-shaped carbon nanotube by assembling the 5-8-cage composed of carbon 5- and 8-membered rings, named 5-8-PSNT. Using first-principles calculations and molecular dynamics simulations, we find that 5-8-PSNT is not only thermally and dynamically stable, but also metallic. Moreover, its lattice thermal conductivity is only 95.87 W m-1 K-1, which is less than one tenth of the value of (6, 6) carbon nanotube that has a radius similar to that of 5-8-PSNT. A further analysis of the phonon properties reveals that the low lattice thermal conductivity of 5-8-PSNT arises from its low phonon group velocity, short relaxation time, large lattice vibrational mismatch and strong anharmonicity. These findings further suggest that a pentagon and an octagon as structural units can effectively modulate the properties of carbon materials.

Significant Reduction of Interfacial Thermal Resistance and Phonon Scattering in Graphene/Polyimide Thermally Conductive Composite Films for Thermal Management.

The developing flexible electronic equipment are greatly affected by the rapid accumulation of heat, which is urgent to be solved by thermally conductive polymer composite films. However, the interfacial thermal resistance (ITR) and the phonon scattering at the interfaces are the main bottlenecks limiting the rapid and efficient improvement of thermal conductivity coefficients (λ) of the polymer composite films. Moreover, few researches were focused on characterizing ITR and phonon scattering in thermally conductive polymer composite films. In this paper, graphene oxide (GO) was aminated (NH2-GO) and reduced (NH2-rGO), then NH2-rGO/polyimide (NH2-rGO/PI) thermally conductive composite films were fabricated. Raman spectroscopy was utilized to innovatively characterize phonon scattering and ITR at the interfaces in NH2-rGO/PI thermally conductive composite films, revealing the interfacial thermal conduction mechanism, proving that the amination optimized the interfaces between NH2-rGO and PI, reduced phonon scattering and ITR, and ultimately improved the interfacial thermal conduction. The in-plane λ (λ||) and through-plane λ (λ⊥) of 15 wt% NH2-rGO/PI thermally conductive composite films at room temperature were, respectively, 7.13 W/mK and 0.74 W/mK, 8.2 times λ|| (0.87 W/mK) and 3.5 times λ⊥ (0.21 W/mK) of pure PI film, also significantly higher than λ|| (5.50 W/mK) and λ⊥ (0.62 W/mK) of 15 wt% rGO/PI thermally conductive composite films. Calculation based on the effective medium theory model proved that ITR was reduced via the amination of rGO. Infrared thermal imaging and finite element simulation showed that NH2-rGO/PI thermally conductive composite films obtained excellent heat dissipation and efficient thermal management capabilities on the light-emitting diodes bulbs, 5G high-power chips, and other electronic equipment, which are easy to generate heat severely.

Path-Dependent Thermal Metadevice beyond Janus Functionalities.

Janus metamaterials, metasurfaces, and monolayers have received intensive attention in nanophotonics and 2D materials. Their core concept is to introduce asymmetry along the wave propagation direction, by stacking different materials or layers of meta-atoms, or breaking out-of-plane mirror asymmetry with external biases. Nevertheless, it has been hitherto elusive to realize a diffusive Janus metadevice, since scalar diffusion systems such as heat conduction normally operate in the absence of polarization control, spin manipulation, or electric-field stimuli, which all are widely used in achieving optical Janus devices. It is even more challenging, if not impossible, for a single diffusive metadevice to exhibit more than two thermal functions. Here a path-dependent thermal metadevice beyond Janus characteristics is proposed, which can exhibit three distinct thermal behaviors (cloaking, concentrating, and transparency) under different directions of heat flow. The rotation transformation mechanism of thermal conductivity provides a robust platform to assign a specific thermal behavior in any direction. The proof-of-concept experiment of anisotropic in-plane conduction successfully validates such a path-dependent trifunction thermal metamaterial device. It is anticipated that this path-dependent strategy can provide a new dimension for multifunctional metamaterial devices in the thermal field, as well as for a more general diffusion process.

Comparison of molecular heat transfer mechanisms between water and ammonia in the liquid states

Water and ammonia are both associated liquids with high thermal conductivity, but their degrees of molecular association are characterized differently by strong and weak hydrogen bonds, respectively. Here, we employed non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation to clarify and compare the molecular mechanisms of high thermal conductivity of water and ammonia. The molecular-scale heat transfer was analyzed in relation to molecular configuration using the atomistic heat path analysis [J. Heat Mass Transf. 108, 749 (2017)], where a single van der Waals (vdW) interaction and a single Coulomb interaction were considered as a heat path and their contributions to heat transfer were quantified. Both water and ammonia showed that the primary factor of high thermal conductivity is a large amount of heat transfer via Coulomb interaction, which was enabled by a high density of heat paths. These heat paths for outstanding Coulomb heat transfer included not only hydrogen bonds, but also more distant Coulomb interactions. On the other hand, an important role of hydrogen bond was to form a specific coordination structure of molecules that realizes the high heat path density. Such coordination structures differed between water and ammonia because of different strengths of hydrogen bond, which in turn led to different molecular pictures of heat transfer. Thus, water and ammonia achieve high thermal conductivity using somewhat different mechanisms at the molecular scale.

Modelling of Effective Thermal Conductivity of Composites Filled with Core-Shell Fillers.

An effective model to calculate thermal conductivity of polymer composites using core-shell fillers is presented, wherein a core material of filler grains is covered by a layer of a high-thermal-conductivity (HTC) material. Such fillers can provide a significant increase of the composite thermal conductivity by an addition of a small amount of the HTC material. The model employs the Lewis-Nielsen formula describing filled systems. The effective thermal conductivity of the core-shell filler grains is calculated using the Russel model for porous materials. Modelling results are compared with recent measurements made on composites filled with cellulose microbeads coated with hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) platelets and good agreement is demonstrated. Comparison with measurements made on epoxy composites, using silver-coated glass spheres as a filler, is also provided. It is demonstrated how the modelling procedure can improve understanding of properties of materials and structures used and mechanisms of thermal conduction within the composite.

Recent Advances in Preparation, Mechanisms, and Applications of Thermally Conductive Polymer Composites: A Review

At present, the rapid accumulation of heat and the heat dissipation of electronic equipment and related components are important reasons that restrict the miniaturization, high integration, and high power of electronic equipment. It seriously affects the performance and life of electronic devices. Hence, improving the thermal conductivity of polymer composites (TCPCs) is the key to solving this problem. Compared with manufacturing intrinsic thermally conductive polymer composites, the method of filling the polymer matrix with thermally conductive fillers can better-enhance the thermal conductivity (λ) of the composites. This review starts from the thermal conduction mechanism and describes the factors affecting the λ of polymer composites, including filler type, filler morphology and distribution, and the functional surface treatment of fillers. Next, we introduce the preparation methods of filled thermally conductive polymer composites with different filler types. In addition, some commonly used thermal-conductivity theoretical models have been introduced to better-analyze the thermophysical properties of polymer composites. We discuss the simulation of λ and the thermal conduction process of polymer composites based on molecular dynamics and finite element analysis methods. Meanwhile, we briefly introduce the application of polymer composites in thermal management. Finally, we outline the challenges and prospects of TCPCs.

Interfacial Thermal Conductance across Graphene/MoS2 van der Waals Heterostructures

The thermal conductivity and interface thermal conductance of graphene stacked MoS2 (graphene/MoS2) van der Waals heterostructure were studied by the first principles and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Firstly, two different heterostructures were established and optimized by VASP. Subsequently, we obtained the thermal conductivity (K) and interfacial thermal conductance (G) via MD simulations. The predicted Κ of monolayer graphene and monolayer MoS2 reached 1458.7 W/m K and 55.27 W/m K, respectively. The thermal conductance across the graphene/MoS2 interface was calculated to be 8.95 MW/m2 K at 300 K. The G increases with temperature and the interface coupling strength. Finally, the phonon spectra and phonon density of state were obtained to analyze the changing mechanism of thermal conductivity and thermal conductance.

Dielectric Spectroscopy and Thermal Properties of Poly(lactic) Acid Reinforced with Carbon-Based Particles: Experimental Study and Design Theory.

In the present study, polylactic acid (PLA) enriched with carbonaceous particles like multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), graphene nanoplates (GNPs) or a combination of both up 12 wt % of loading are used for producing 3D-printed specimens with fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology which are then experimentally and theoretically investigated. The goal is to propose a non-conventional filaments indicated for additive manufacturing process with improved dielectric and thermal properties, compared to the performances exhibited by the unfilled polymer. In the light of the above, a wide dielectric spectroscopy and a thermal analysis, supported by a morphological investigation, are performed. The results highlight that the introduction of 1-dimensional filler (MWCNTs) are more suitable for improving the dielectric properties of the resulting materials, due to the enhancement of the interfacial polarization and the presence of functionalized groups, whereas 2-dimensional nanoparticles (GNPs) better favor the thermal conduction mechanisms thanks to the lower thermal boundary resistance between the two phases, polymer/filler. In particular, with a loading of 12 wt % of MWCNTs the relative permittivity reaches the value of 5.35 × 103 much greater than that of 3.7 measured for unfilled PLA while for the thermal conductivity the enhancement with 12 wt % of GNPs is about 261% respect the thermal behavior of the neat polymer. The experimental results are correlated to theoretical findings, whereas a design of experiment (DoE) approach is adopted for investigating how the different fillers influence the dielectric and thermal performances of the 3D-printed parts, thus assisting the design of such innovative materials that appear promising for development and applications in the electromagnetic (EM) field and heat transfer.

High-entropy (Nd0.2Sm0.2Eu0.2Y0.2Yb0.2)4Al2O9 with good high temperature stability, low thermal conductivity, and anisotropic thermal expansivity

The critical requirements for the environmental barrier coating (EBC) materials of silicon-based ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) include good tolerance to harsh environments, thermal expansion matches with the interlayer mullite, good high-temperature phase stability, and low thermal conductivity. Cuspidine-structured rare-earth aluminates RE4Al2O9 have been considered as candidates of EBCs for their superior mechanical and thermal properties, but the phase transition at high temperatures is a notable drawback of these materials. To suppress the phase transition and improve the phase stability, a novel cuspidine-structured rare-earth aluminate solid solution (Nd0.2Sm0.2Eu0.2Y0.2Yb0.2)4Al2O9 was designed and successfully synthesized inspired by entropy stabilization effect of high-entropy ceramics (HECs). The as-synthesized HE (Nd0.2Sm0.2Eu0.2Y0.2Yb0.2)4Al2O9 exhibits a close thermal expansion coefficient (6.96×10-6 K-1 at 300–1473 K) to that of mullite, good phase stability from 300 to 1473 K, and low thermal conductivity (1.50 W·m–1·K–1 at room temperature). In addition, strong anisotropic thermal expansion has been observed compared to Y4Al2O9 and Yb4Al2O9. The mechanism for low thermal conductivity is attributed to the lattice distortion and mass difference of the constituent atoms, and the anisotropic thermal expansion is due to the anisotropic chemical bonding enhanced by the large size rare-earth cations.

Features of crystal structures and thermo‐mechanical properties of weberites RE3NbO7(RE=La, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd) ceramics

AbstractThe features of crystal structures, thermo‐mechanical properties and their dominant mechanisms of weberites RE3NbO7were studied as high‐temperature oxides. We concentrated on connections between structures and thermo‐mechanical properties, the influences of bond lengths, lattice distortion degrees and microstructures on these properties were estimated. The shortening of bond length and increment of bonding strength would lead to the increase of mechanical properties. The Vickers hardness (4.5‐7.8 GPa) and toughness (0.5‐1.6 MPa·m1/2) of weberites RE3NbO7are enhanced by grain refinement and increment of bond strength, while crystal structures, bond lengths, and lattice distortion degrees influenced their Young's modulus (100‐170 GPa). Nano‐indentation was applied to test the influence of microstructures on modulus and hardness. The dominant mechanisms for mechanical properties and thermal conductivity were proposed, which was conducive to properties tailoring and engineering applications of weberites RE3NbO7oxides.

Functional analysis of thermal conductivity and viscosity of quasi-solid capillary-porous bodies under varying air environment conditions during museum storage

Fundamental analysis of the thermal conductivity and viscosity of quasi-solid capillary-porous bodies (CPBs), which are museum exhibits’ materials, is presented. The air environment parameters change leads to a temperature gradient in the CPBs. Non-uniform heating of the solid medium, in particular, quasi-solid CPB, is not accompanied by convection, and heat transfer is carried out only due to the mechanism of thermal conductivity. In order to create a mathematical model of this process in CPB, a system of partial differential equations in time and space coordinates is obtained. The resulting system adequately describes the thermal conductivity process in quasi-solid CPBs. The anisotropy of CPB’s thermal parameters, especially, its coefficients of thermal expansion and thermal conductivity, is also taken into account. Theoretically, the deformation process during motion in quasi-solid CPB is taken as reversible. In real conditions, the process is thermodynamically reversible only when it occurs at an infinitesimal speed. Then at each point in time, the CPB is able to establish a thermodynamic equilibrium state. Real motion occurs at a finite velocity, the CPB is not in an equilibrium state at any given moment, so there are endogenous processes that try to get it into a balanced condition. The occurrence of these processes causes the irreversibility of motion, which acts, in particular, through the dissipation of mechanical energy, which eventually turns into heat. The energy dissipation is caused by irreversible processes of thermal conductivity and processes of internal friction or viscosity. The dissipative function for isotropic and anisotropic cases was determined in order to analyze the viscosity of quasi-solid CPBs. The viscosity in the equations of motion can be considered by replacing the stress tensor with a tensor, which additionally takes into account the "dissipative" stress tensor.

Preparation and Characterization of Coated Alumina/Aluminum Cermet Composite Powder via Ball Milling Method

Cermet is an important new engineering material that not only maintains the excellent properties of ceramic materials, but also has the advantages of metal materials. In this paper, the encapsulated alumina-aluminum composite powder was prepared by ball milling and characterized, which laid a foundation for the development of high properties cermet materials. Through the analysis of experimental results, the conclusions are shown when the ball milling time is greater than 3 h, the alumina particles are more evenly distributed around the aluminum powder. the ball milling for 6 h may have reached a limit of the mixing uniformity of the two powder, so the ball milling is determined 6 h as the better ball milling time. Under the ball milling condition of 50 r/min, the distribution of alumina particles around the aluminum powder is more uniform around the aluminum powder than the ball mill under 75 r/min, the ball milling speed is preferably 50 r/min. As the content of aluminum powder increases, the distribution of alumina in aluminum powder is large and uniform, and there is a small amount of pinning. It provides a package-like composite for the preparation of cermet with a wrapped structure and the thermal conduction mechanism of the controlled cermet.

Study on Degradation Mechanisms of Thermal Conductivity for Confined Nanochannel in Gate-All-Around Silicon Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors

In this article, an analytical thermal conductivity model for confined nanochannel in gate-all-around silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (GAA SiNW FETs) is developed by considering the limitations caused by the cross section and length. A geometry dependence of phonon mean free path (MFP) is established for quantitatively analyzing the influence of cross-sectional dimension. Furthermore, the length-induced degradation mechanism is revealed by employing the transverse transportation phonon effective MFP. The results calculated by the model which was verified by published data indicate that the thermal conductivity of confined nanochannel in the GAA SiNW FETs is suffering from a severe degradation compared to that of ultrathin silicon in fully depleted (FD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs. In addition to the suppression caused by the cross-sectional boundaries, the impact of the channel length should be taken into consideration during the modeling of thermal conductivity for accurately evaluating the self-heating effects (SHEs) in GAA SiNW FETs.

Transformer Bushing Thermal Model for Calculation of Hot-Spot Temperature Considering Oil Flow Dynamics

Thermal stress plays a prominent role in the reliability of bushings and contributes to the reliability of power transformers, especially during overload conditions. Thus, exploring the temperature distribution in the bushings is essential. This paper proposes a new thermal model to estimate the hotspot temperature (HST) of oil-impregnated paper (OIP) bushings, based on a modified thermal-electrical analogy model. The proposed model is developed based on the finite element method (FEM) to accurately model all fluid flow and internal convection as well as the thermal conduction mechanism. To this end, convection thermal resistances are defined, and their nonlinear characteristics are calculated for different overloading conditions. The proposed approach is applied on a 245 kV, 800 A OIP bushing to analyze not only the normal loading condition but also short-term overloading beyond the rated current. In addition, the oil flow condition with different load currents and transformer top oil temperatures (TTOT) are investigated. The results show a consistent temperature rise with the typical test conditions with no identified problematic situation. However, during overloading, the temperature rise exceeds beyond the permissible limits recommended by IEEE C57.19. Hence, the overloading of transformers may deteriorate the bushing insulation and reduce its lifetime.

Rational design of nanohybrids for highly thermally conductive polymer composites

With the miniaturization, integration and functionalization of electronic devices and the emergence of some new applications including lighting components, wearable electronics, and energy storage systems, extensive efforts have been dedicated to developing highly thermally conductive polymer-based composites. Especially, the nanohybrids constructed with various geometrically dissimilar thermally conductive nanofillers, as a fascinating building block for manufacturing advanced thermally conductive composites, have sparked intensive interest of researchers during the past few years. In this short review, we summarize the recent progresses on the nanohybrids for preparing highly thermally conductive polymer composites. The construction strategies of nanohybrids, thermal conduction mechanisms, structure-properties relationships as well as their potential applications are highlighted. Finally, the future potentials and challenges in this active research field are prospected.

Thermal conduction mechanism based on microstructural transformations of molten slag: The role of calcium oxide

The built up of the slag layer is a character of the entrained-flow gasifier, and its thickness distribution and heat transfer characteristics affect the stable operation of gasification, which is closely related to the thermal conductivity of molten slag. A non-stationary hot wire experimental method and a reverse non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation method were combined to investigate the thermal conductivity of the SiO2-Al2O3CaO-Fe2O3−MgO molten slag with a mass ratio of CaO ranging from 5 to 25 wt.%. The slag microstructure information of the distribution of oxygen and tetrahedron Qn was calculated by molecular dynamics simulation. A good agreement within the deviation of 18% between the measured and calculated thermal conductivity over the entire operating temperature range is observed, and one can find that thermal conductivity decreases significantly as the CaO content increased. The principal pathway for CaO modifying the network structure is the connection between two tetrahedral structures by generation of the Si-O-Ca and Al-O-Ca through the fracture of Si-O-Si and Si-O-Al. The rise of CaO promotes the formation of non-bridging oxygen (NBO) and the decomposition of bridging oxygen. The existence of NBOs leads to an enhancement of anharmonicity and shortens the interatomic distance in the tetrahedral structure, which aggravates phonon scattering to reduce phonon mean free path, thereby decreasing the thermal conductivity. Since the phonon propagation is restricted to short-range tetrahedron separated by structural disorder, the Q4 structure is the most sensitive to the addition of CaO. An equivalent molar concentration of the Q4 tetrahedron (XQ4) is defined and the approximate positive linear relationships between the thermal conductivities and XQ4 are obtained.

Extreme In-Plane Thermal Conductivity Anisotropy in Titanium Trisulfide Caused by Heat-Carrying Optical Phonons.

High in-plane anisotropies arise in layered materials with large structural difference along different in-plane directions. We report an extreme case in layered TiS3, which features tightly bonded atomic chains along the b-axis direction, held together by weaker, interchain bonding along the a-axis direction. Experiments show thermal conductivity along the chain twice as high as between the chain, an in-plane anisotropy higher than any other layered materials measured to date. We found that in contrast to most other materials, optical phonons in TiS3 conduct an unusually high portion of heat (up to 66% along the b-axis direction). The large dispersiveness of optical phonons along the chains, contrasted to many fewer dispersive optical phonons perpendicular to the chains, is the primary reason for the observed high anisotropy in thermal conductivity. The finding discovers materials with unusual thermal conduction mechanism, as well as provides new material platforms for potential heat-routing or heat-managing devices.

A High Thermal Conductivity Cement for Geothermal Exploitation Application

In geothermal reservoir exploitation, the thermal conductivity of casing cement material is a key parameter that may affect the heat exchange and utilization efficiency of geothermal reservoirs. Based on a systematic approach of theoretical analysis, experimental research and microscopic analysis, this paper presents graphite composite cement (GC) with high thermal conductivity for potential application in geothermal reservoir exploitation. The GC consists of ordinary Portland cement (P.O 42.5), natural flake graphite, water-reducing agent (GB), early strength agent (CaCl2) and defoamer (HB-03). The physical properties of the GC, such as fluidity, pumpability, setting time, compressive strength and thermal conductivity, were obtained by carefully prepared laboratory tests that met our expectation. Finally, X-ray diffractometry and environmental scanning electron microscopy were used to analyze the micro-characteristics for an interpreted thermal conduction mechanism of GC. The results of analyses show that the formation of thermal conductivity network of natural flake graphite in cement is a key to improve thermal conductivity. The research results provide a new solution to the problems of low thermal energy extraction efficiency and poor cementing quality of geothermal reservoirs.

Experimental Test and Prediction Model of Soil Thermal Conductivity in Permafrost Regions

Soil thermal conductivity is a dominant parameter of an unsteady heat-transfer process, which further influences the stability and sustainability of engineering applications in permafrost regions. In this work, a laboratory test for massive specimens is performed to reveal the distribution characteristics and the parameter-influencing mechanisms of soil thermal conductivity along the Qinghai–Tibet Engineering Corridor (QTEC). Based on the measurement data of 638 unfrozen and 860 frozen soil specimens, binary fitting, radial basis function (RBF) neural network and ternary fitting (for frozen soils) prediction models of soil thermal conductivity have been developed and compared. The results demonstrate that, (1) particle size and intrinsic heat-conducting capacity of the soil skeleton have a significant influence on the soil thermal conductivity, and the typical specimens in the QTEC can be classified as three clusters according to their thermal conductivity probability distribution and water-holding capacity; (2) dry density as well as water content sometimes does not have a strong positive correlation with thermal conductivity of natural soil samples, especially for multiple soil types and complex compositions; (3) both the RBF neural network method and ternary fitting method have favorable prediction accuracy and a wide application range. The maximum determination coefficient (R2) and quantitative proportion of relative error within ±10% ( P ± 10 % ) of each prediction model reaches up to 0.82, 0.88, 81.4% and 74.5%, respectively. Furthermore, because the ternary fitting method can only be used for frozen soils, the RBF neural network method is considered the optimal approach among all three prediction methods. This study can contribute to the construction and maintenance of engineering applications in permafrost regions.

Enhanced thermal conductivity of poly(lactic acid)/alumina composite by synergistic effect of tuning crystallization of poly(lactic acid) crystallization and filler content

Thermally conductive polymer-based composites have drawn significant interest in the field of heat management. Herein, taking polylactic acid/alumina (PLA/Al2O3) composite as the research system, we investigated the influences of the content of Al2O3 and the crystallinity of PLA on the thermal conductivity of PLA/Al2O3 composite, and discussed the synergistic effect between the matrix crystallinity and the filler content and the corresponding thermal conduction mechanism. Results show that Al2O3 plays a heterogeneous nucleation role in crystallization of PLA, which significantly accelerates the crystallization rate and improves the crystallinity of PLA. Both crystallinity of PLA matrix and Al2O3 content contribute to the final thermal conductivity of the composite. When the filler content is lower than 50 wt%, the improvement of thermal conductivity for composite is mainly determined by Al2O3 content, and contribution from the crystallinity of PLA is very limited. When the Al2O3 content is higher than 60 wt%, which is sufficient to format a heat conduction network in the matrix, the high crystallinity of PLA combined with high filler content brings a synergistic effect and significantly enhances the final thermal conductivity of the composite. For composite of PLA containing 70 wt% Al2O3, when the crystallinity of PLA matrix increases from 4.63 to 59.8%, the corresponding thermal conductivity of the PLA/Al2O3 composite enhanced by 26.8% from 0.82 to 1.04 W m−1 K−1, which is more than 5 times higher than that of neat PLA. Such a remarkable improvement in thermal conductivity only by changing matrix structure without further adding fillers is of great significance for polymer-based thermally conductive composites.