Thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube-polyamide-6,6 nanocomposites: Reverse non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations

The thermal conductivity of composites of carbon nanotubes and polyamide-6,6 has been investigated using reverse non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations in a full atomistic resolution. It is found, in line with experiments, that the composites have thermal conductivities, which are only moderately larger than that of pure polyamide. The composite conductivities are orders of magnitude less than what would be expected from naiumlve additivity arguments. This means that the intrinsic thermal conductivities of isolated nanotubes, which exceed the best-conducting metals, cannot be harnessed for heat transport, when the nanotubes are embedded in a polymer matrix. The main reason is the high interfacial thermal resistance between the nanotubes and the polymer, which was calculated in addition to the total composite thermal conductivity as well as that of the subsystem. It hinders heat to be transferred from the slow-conducting polymer into the fast-conducting nanotubes and back into the polymer. This interpretation is in line with the majority of recent simulation works. An alternative explanation, namely, the damping of the long-wavelength phonons in nanotubes by the polymer matrix is not supported by the present calculations. These modes provide most of the polymers heat conduction. An additional minor effect is caused by the anisotropic structure of the polymer phase induced by the nearby nanotube surfaces. The thermal conductivity of the polymer matrix increases slightly in the direction parallel to the nanotubes, whereas it decreases perpendicular to it. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3660348]