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Optimization of Thermal Conductivity of Alumina-Filled Composites by Numerical Simulations

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Abstract

Understanding the correlation between the physical features of composite components and thermal conductive pathway is beneficial to optimizing the overall heat-transfer performance. Herein, we conduct numerical simulation to investigate the thermal conductivity and heat flux distributions of alumina (Al2O3)-filled composites. The finite element model was verified by both experimental data and theoretical models. The crucial factors include the influence of the interface thermal resistance, the intrinsic thermal conductivity of the matrix and Al2O3 filler, and the size effect of Al2O3 fillers were investigated. For single Al2O3-filled composites, the results indicate that increasing the intrinsic thermal conductivity of the matrix is conductive to bridge the Al2O3 pathway along heat-transfer direction, but there are very limited contributions by enhancing the intrinsic thermal conductivity of Al2O3 filler, tuning the size of Al2O3 filler, and reducing the interface thermal resistance. After introducing the multiscale fillers, it is found that the high thermal conductivity can be achieved by regulating their size matching effect. At the optimal binary ratio of 70:30 (40 µm:15 µm) and ternary ratio of 55:35:10 (40 µm:15 µm:10 µm), the heat-conduction network presents the dominant skeleton of large-sized filler and the bridging branch of small-sized fillers features, which facilitates the formation of a complete and continuous thermal conductive network. This study gives a practical guidance for the thermal conductive design of Al2O3-filled composites.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51606190 and 52006219) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA 21000000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer for Low Grade Energy Utilization, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Shikun Li & Guohua Liu

  2. Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Shikun Li, Bin Liu, Xiao Jia, Min Xu, Ruoyu Zong & Xiulan Huai

  3. Nanjing Institute of Future Energy System, Nanjing, 211135, China

    Shikun Li, Bin Liu, Xiao Jia, Min Xu, Ruoyu Zong & Xiulan Huai

Authors
  1. Shikun Li
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  2. Bin Liu
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  3. Xiao Jia
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  4. Min Xu
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  5. Ruoyu Zong
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  6. Guohua Liu
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  7. Xiulan Huai
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Correspondence to Bin Liu or Xiulan Huai.

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HUAI Xiulan is an editorial board member for Journal of Thermal Science and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. All authors declare that there are no competing interests.

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Li, S., Liu, B., Jia, X. et al. Optimization of Thermal Conductivity of Alumina-Filled Composites by Numerical Simulations. J. Therm. Sci. 32, 1569–1582 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-023-1827-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-023-1827-6

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