Improved thermal conductivity of epoxy composites using a hybrid multi-walled carbon nanotube/micro-SiC filler

By adding 6 wt% multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) or 71.7 wt% micro-SiC to an epoxy resin the thermal conductivities of the composites reached maxima that were respectively 2.9 and 20.7 times that of the epoxy alone. To further improve the thermal conductivity a method that partially replaces microfiller with nanofiller was used, and a thermal conductivity, 24.3 times that of the epoxy, was obtained with 5 wt% MWCNTs + 55 wt% micro-SiC. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.