Influence of morphological parameters in 3D composite materials on their effective thermal properties and comparison with effective mechanical properties

TL;DR

This study investigates how the shape, distribution, and morphology of inclusions in 3D composite materials affect their effective thermal properties, using homogenization and FFT methods, and compares these with mechanical properties.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of morphological effects on thermal conductivity in 3D composites, extending previous mechanical property studies with new thermal behavior insights.

Findings

Morphological variations significantly influence thermal conductivity.

Comparison shows differences between thermal and mechanical property responses.

Homogenization with FFT efficiently models complex inclusion geometries.

Abstract

In this paper we study the effective thermal behaviour of 3D representative volume elements (RVEs) of two-phased composite materials constituted by a matrix with cylindrical and spherical inclusions distributed randomly, with periodic boundaries. Variations around the shape of inclusions have been taken into account, by corrugating shapes, excavating and/or by removing pieces of inclusions. The effective behaviour is computed with the help of homogenization process based on an accelerated FFT-scheme giving the thermal conductivity tensor. Several morphological parameters are also taken into account for instance the number and the volume fraction of each type of inclusions,... in order to analyse the behaviour of the composite for a large number of geometries. We compare the results obtained for RVEs with and without variations, and then with the mechanical results of such composite studied in our previous paper.