Carbon nanotube composites for thermal management

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that incorporating small amounts of single-wall carbon nanotubes into epoxy significantly enhances its thermal conductivity and mechanical hardness, offering a promising approach for thermal management applications.

Contribution

It shows that unfunctionalized SWNTs can improve epoxy's thermal and mechanical properties without chemical modification.

Findings

70% increase in thermal conductivity at 40K with 1 wt% SWNTs

125% increase in thermal conductivity at room temperature with 1 wt% SWNTs

Vickers hardness increases up to 3.5 times at 2 wt% SWNTs

Abstract

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were used to augment the thermal transport properties of industrial epoxy. Samples loaded with 1 wt% unpurified SWNT material show a 70% increase in thermal conductivity at 40K, rising to 125% at room temperature; the enhancement due to 1 wt% loading of vapor grown carbon fibers is three times smaller. Electrical conductivity data show a percolation threshold between 0.1 and 0.2 wt% SWNT loading. The Vickers hardness rises monotonically with SWNT loading up to a factor of 3.5 at 2 wt%. These results suggest that the thermal and mechanical properties of SWNT-epoxy composites are improved, without the need to chemically functionalize the nanotubes.