Effective Thermal Conductivity of Polymer Composites

A theoretical model for predicting effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of particle filled polymer composites is developed assuming spherical inclusions arranged in a three dimensional cylindrical array. The arrangement has been divided into unit cylinders each of that contains a sphere. Green's function technique has been applied to determine the value of effective thermal conductivity. To incorporate random packing and non uniform shape of particles, a correlation term is included. It is found to dependent on volume fractions and the ratio of thermal conductivities of the constituent phases. The theoretical expression so obtained predicts values of effective thermal conductivity that are quite close to the experimental results.