Thermal Conductivity Augmentation in Polymeric Nanocomposites

This paper presents an experimental analysis of the thermal conductivity of a nanocomposite system composed of a unsaturated polyester resin as matrix and alumina nanoparticles as filler. The nano particles used are 30–40 nanometers gamma alumina particles. Samples are fabricated using simple molding and no specialized homogenization equipment is used for mixing the particles with the liquid resin. The thermal conductivity is measured using the Fox-50 device, manufactured by LaserComp. Measurements are taken at different temperatures (from 0° to 50°C) for different batches of samples varying the fraction of nanoparticles used in the composite system. Finally, the thermal conductivity measurements are compared with models for predicting the thermal conductivity of composite materials with nanoparticles, showing that the obtained results are over the values estimated by these models.