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Research Papers

# Numerical Simulation of Thermal Conductivity of Particle Filled Epoxy Composites

[+] Author and Article Information
Jun Zeng, Shaodong Zhang, Xiufeng Song, Hong He

College of Materials Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, P. R. China

Renli Fu1

College of Materials Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, P. R. Chinarenlifu@nuaa.edu.cn

Simeon Agathopoulos

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR-451 10 Ioannina, Greece

1

Corresponding author.

J. Electron. Packag 131(4), 041006 (Oct 21, 2009) (7 pages) doi:10.1115/1.4000210 History: Received March 04, 2009; Revised August 14, 2009; Published October 21, 2009

## Abstract

A finite element method was developed to predict the effective thermal conductivity of particle filled epoxy composites. Three-dimensional models, which considered the effect of filler geometry, filler aspect ratio, conductivity ratio of filler to matrix, and interfacial layer were used to simulate the microstructure of epoxy composites for various filler volume fractions up to 30%. The calculated thermal conductivities were compared with results from existing theoretical models and experiments. Numerical estimation of ellipsoids-in-cube model accurately predicted thermal conductivity of epoxy composites with alumina filler particles. The number of length division during mesh process and particle numbers used in the finite element analysis affect the accuracy of calculated results. At a given value of filler content, the numerical results indicated a ratio of conductivity of filler to matrix for achieving the maximum thermal conductivity.

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## Figures

Figure 1

Three-dimensional finite element models for 20 vol % particle concentration: (a) ellipsoids-in-cube, (b) cubes-in-cube, and (c) spheres-in-cube

Figure 2

Boundary conditions

Figure 3

Thermal contact resistance

Figure 4

Filler shape after mesh at different number of length division

Figure 5

Effect of number of length division on thermal conductivity of epoxy composites for different fillers’ content

Figure 6

Effect of filler number on thermal conductivity for different volume fractions (ellipsoids-in-cube model)

Figure 7

Effect of filler number on thermal conductivity with different filler shapes, ellipsoids, cubes, and spheres, for the same volume fraction (20%)

Figure 8

Effect of filler content on thermal conductivity (at 55°C) of epoxy composites for different values of ellipsoid aspect ratio. The experimental points correspond to Lee (18)

Figure 9

Finite element model for 20 vol % particle concentration at 45 deg long axis deviation

Figure 10

Effect of ellipsoid long axis deviation on thermal conductivity of epoxy composites for different filler contents

Figure 11

Comparison of thermal conductivities (at 55°C) of numerical results, theoretical models (Table 1) and experimental results (18)

Figure 12

Effect of conductivity ratio of filler to matrix on thermal conductivity of epoxy composite for different filler contents

Figure 13

Effect of filler content on thermal conductivity of epoxy composites for different values of interfacial layer, represented by the ratio of conductivity of interfacial layer to the conductivity of matrix

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