Thermal conductivity of a polymer composite filled with mixtures of particles

Abstract

Abstract A new thermal conduction model is proposed for a polymer system filled with a mixture of several types of particles. Predicted values by the new model are compared with experimental data. The model is derived by extending a model that was previously proposed for a two‐phase system. The following equation is derived from the new model: log λ = V · ( X 2 · C 2 · log λ 2 + X 3 · C 3 · log λ 3 + (1 − V ) log ( C 1 · λ 1 . When the thermal conductivities of polymer and particles (λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , …) and a mixing ratio of particles ( X 2 , X 3 , …) are known, thermal conductivity of the filled polymer (λ) with several types of particles can be estimated from the equation, with any volume content of particles ( V ). Furthermore, from each polymer–filler composite (two‐phase system) data, the thermal conductivity of a composite filled with different filler particles can be estimated.