Thermal Characteristics and Measurement of Nanoscale Materials

摘要

Numerical prediction of the physical properties of nanocom-posites is an attractive area that requires more discussion and investigation. In this paper, we calculate the thermal conductivity of nanocomposites embedded with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) based on the representative volume element (RVE) concept. The RVE, which encompasses a single CNT, was constructed assuming that the CNTs are distributed in polymeric material homogeneously, and also assuming that the CNTs have no interaction with other CNTs. This research describes the thermal characteristics of nanoscale materials - CNTs filled nanocomposites - as a case study and measured their thermal conductivity, for the purpose of validation of numerical results. The dispersion state of the CNTs was observed using field emission scanning electronic microscope (FESEM). We found that the numerically predicted thermal conductivity is closely matches the experimental one and that the numerical tool employed in the study is superior to other analytical and numerical methods.