TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of graphene nanoplatelets relative size and polyethylene chain length on the enhancement of thermal conductivity of their composite
AU - Zhang, Ji
AU - Ragab, Tarek
AU - Wang, Mengjie
AU - Wang, Weidong
AU - Zhu, Yingmin
AU - Zhang, Haiyan
AU - Wang, Xiao
AU - Jiang, Kyle
PY - 2024/1
Y1 - 2024/1
N2 - In this paper, the thermal conductivity of polyethylene (PE) incorporated with graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) has been studied using equilibrium Molecular Dynamics (eMD) simulations. A systematic MD simulation for PE-GNPs composites was performed with graphene weight percentage (wt.%) up to ∼40% to investigate the effect of the addition of GNPs on the thermal conductivity of PE. A significant improvement of thermal conductivity to around 80–120 W/(m·K) is reported at GNPs weight percentage of ∼40%. Moreover, the effect of chain length of PE at various wt.% of GNPs on the thermal conductivity of PE-GNPs nanocomposite versus the wt.% of GNPs are is studied using linear and second-order polynomial regression analysis. For PE matrix with 20-monomer chain length, which is comparable to the size of filling GNPs, the thermal conductivity has a linear relation when the weight percentage of GNPs is under 15%, and a quadratic polynomial relation over the whole simulated weight percentage. Thermal conductivity of PE matrix with 50 and 100-monomer exhibited two linear regions with respect to the GNPs weight percentage when the weight percentage is under 10% and above 30%. The effect of the GNPs/PE chain length relative size is well-explained using the number of connected polymer chain ends in the PE-GNPs composites. This study concludes that the relative size of the thermal conducting filling materials compared to the polymer chain lengths has distinguish effect on the thermal conductivity.
AB - In this paper, the thermal conductivity of polyethylene (PE) incorporated with graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) has been studied using equilibrium Molecular Dynamics (eMD) simulations. A systematic MD simulation for PE-GNPs composites was performed with graphene weight percentage (wt.%) up to ∼40% to investigate the effect of the addition of GNPs on the thermal conductivity of PE. A significant improvement of thermal conductivity to around 80–120 W/(m·K) is reported at GNPs weight percentage of ∼40%. Moreover, the effect of chain length of PE at various wt.% of GNPs on the thermal conductivity of PE-GNPs nanocomposite versus the wt.% of GNPs are is studied using linear and second-order polynomial regression analysis. For PE matrix with 20-monomer chain length, which is comparable to the size of filling GNPs, the thermal conductivity has a linear relation when the weight percentage of GNPs is under 15%, and a quadratic polynomial relation over the whole simulated weight percentage. Thermal conductivity of PE matrix with 50 and 100-monomer exhibited two linear regions with respect to the GNPs weight percentage when the weight percentage is under 10% and above 30%. The effect of the GNPs/PE chain length relative size is well-explained using the number of connected polymer chain ends in the PE-GNPs composites. This study concludes that the relative size of the thermal conducting filling materials compared to the polymer chain lengths has distinguish effect on the thermal conductivity.
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2023.108617
DO - 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2023.108617
M3 - Article
SN - 1290-0729
VL - 195
JO - International Journal of Thermal Sciences
JF - International Journal of Thermal Sciences
M1 - 108617
ER -