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Thermal conductivity of tunable lamellar aluminum oxide/polymethyl methacrylate hybrid composites

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Abstract

We prepared hybrid aluminum oxide (Al2O3)/polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) composites with tunable lamellae, produced through a two-step synthetic method: fabrication of inorganic scaffolds via ice-templating, followed by organic infiltration polymerization as a substitute for the sublimed ice. The final lamellar hybrid products show anisotropic physical properties. The thermal conductivity in both principal directions was determined for three different samples as a function of temperature (∼3 K–300 K). Typical room temperature thermal conductivities are in the range of 0.5–2.5 W/(m K), depending on the composition and direction. Across the lamellae, the thermal conductivity is well modeled by a linear series of thermal resistors, and along the lamellae it is well represented by parallel thermal resistors of continuous slabs of PMMA and ∼200-μm long slabs of Al2O3, joined by PMMA. From the thermal conductivity perspective, the Al2O3/PMMA composite is a nacre mimic.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Robert L. White, Josef W. Zwanziger, Peng Zhang, Jeff Dahn, Ping Li, and Patricia Scallion for help in this work. This research was financially supported by NSERC, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Atlantic Innovation Fund and other groups which fund the Facilities for Materials Characterization managed by the Institute for Research in Materials at Dalhousie University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, and Institute for Research in Materials, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2

    Ran Chen

  2. Institute for Research in Materials, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2

    Michel B. Johnson

  3. Institute for Research in Materials, and Department of Process Engineering and Applied Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2

    Kevin P. Plucknett

  4. Departments of Chemistry, and Physics and Atmospheric Science, and Institute for Research in Materials, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2

    Mary Anne White

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  1. Ran Chen
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Correspondence to Mary Anne White.

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Chen, R., Johnson, M.B., Plucknett, K.P. et al. Thermal conductivity of tunable lamellar aluminum oxide/polymethyl methacrylate hybrid composites. Journal of Materials Research 27, 1869–1876 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.112

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