Synchronously enhanced thermal properties and fracture toughness of epoxy composites through melamine foam templated dispersion of carbon nanofibers

Abstract Fabricating the thermally conductive composites through incorporating fillers into polymer matrix is usually at the sacrifice of the fracture toughness. To resolve such contradiction, this work proposed a feasible but highly efficient method of constructing the thermally conductive path in the epoxy composite at extremely low filler content. The polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) modified carbon nanofibers (P-CNFs) were coated on the three-dimensional (3D) framework surface of the melamine foam (MF), then the epoxy resin was impregnated into the MF@P–CNF. The results showed that the assembled structure of MF@P-CNFs could be well reserved in the epoxy composite. Consequently, at extremely low P–CNF content (0.8 wt%), the MF@P–CNF/EP sample shows the largely enhanced thermal conductivity (0.4 W/m·K) and glass transition temperature (167 °C) compared with the pure epoxy sample (0.2 W/m·K and 162 °C). Specifically, the composite sample also shows the apparently enhanced fracture toughness. Therefore, it is believed that coating CNFs on the 3D interconnected framework of MF is a promising way to prepare the epoxy composites with good comprehensive properties.