Study on Thermal Properties of CNT-based Composites by the Hybrid Boundary Node Method Combined with a Simplified Approach

摘要

Numerical simulation for carbon nanotube (CNT) based composites usually demands extremely large and expensive computer resources. Based on the exceptionally high heat conductivity of CNT in comparison with the host polymer, a simplified mathematical model for simulation of heat conduction in the CNT composites is proposed. In the proposed approach, the host polymer is the only domain which is modeled, while the CNTs are treated as heat superconductors with constant and unknown temperatures constrained at their surfaces. As a result, the computational scale is reduced substantially. The hybrid boundary node method is applied in this study. A numerical example clearly demonstrates the efficiency and sufficient accuracy of the proposed approach. Then the proposed method is used for studing the alignment of CNTs in the polymer. It is concluded that some specific alignments may significantly increase the equivalent heat conductivity.