A large increase in the thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube/polymer composites produced by percolation phenomena

• Published in: Carbon (New York) 2013-04, Vol.55, p.285-290
• Main Authors: Kwon, Su Yong, Kwon, Il Min, Kim, Yong-Gyoo, Lee, Sanghyun, Seo, Young-Soo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon; Carbon nanotubes; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Equations of state, phase equilibria, and phase transitions; Exact sciences and technology; General studies of phase transitions; Heat transfer; Materials science; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanotubes; Percolation; Physics; Polymer matrix composites; Renormalization-group, fractal, and percolation studies of phase transitions; Thermal conductivity; Transport; Volume fraction
• ISSN: 0008-6223; 1873-3891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2012.12.063

We have studied the thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube/polymer composites as a function of the CNT volume fraction using a steady-state measurement technique. The results show a large increase in the thermal conductivity at a small loading of carbon nanotube volume fraction (ca. 1.4vol.%). The remarkably high increase in the thermal conductivity is described well by thermal transport through networks of carbon nanotubes in the polymer matrix, following a critical power law indicating percolating behavior, which shows the thermal percolation in the vicinity of the electrical percolation threshold concentration.