Thermal Conductivity Measurements of Nylon 11-Carbon Nanofiber Nanocomposites

Abstract

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were incorporated into nylon 11 to form nylon 11-carbon nanofiber nanocomposites via twin screw extrusion. Injection molding has been employed to fabricate specimens that possess enhanced mechanical strength and fire retardancy. The thermal conductivity of these polymer nanocomposites was measured using a guarded hot plate method. The measurement results show that the room temperature thermal conductivity increases with the CNF loading from 0.24±0.01 W/m K for pure Nylon 11 to 0.30±0.02 W/m K at 7.5 wt % CNF loading. The effective medium theory has been used to determine the interface thermal resistance between the CNFs and the matrix to be in the range of 2.5–5.0×10−6 m2 K/W from the measured thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite.