Thermal and electrical conduction of AL/CNT composite

Abstract

Authors have investigated the thermal and electrical conduction behavior of Al/MWCNT composite fabricated by powder metallurgy method in which CNTs were pre-encapsulated with Ni. The thermal and electrical conductivity values were found proportional to the addition of CNTs. For 2.5% wt. CNTs addition with HIP treatment, the Al/CNT composite showed thermal conductivity of 476 W/m-k which is about 85% higher than the value of pure Al. Also, the resultant electrical conductivity was 0.405 × 10−8 S which is about 14% higher than the value of pure Al. The increased thermal and electrical conductivity can be attributed mainly to the well dispersion of CNTs through Ni-encapsulation and the enhanced interfacial bonding of Ni-coated CNTs with the matrix. Due to having good electrical conductivity of nickel itself, electrical conductivity of the composite was also enhanced which was further confirmed from First Principle study.