Experimental and numerical investigation on the thermal conduction properties of 2.5D angle-interlock woven composites

The thermal conduction properties of 2.5D angle-interlock woven composites (2.5DAWC) were investigated along warp, weft and thickness directions both from experimental measurement and finite element analyses (FEA). A self-designed apparatus was established to measure the thermal conductivity of 2.5DAWC. The multi-scale FEA models were selected from representative volume elements (RVE) of matrix, yarns and composites by detailed geometrical structural analyses. The micro-scale models including the matrix-voids RVE and the fiber-matrix RVE were used to calculate the thermal properties of resin matrix and yarns, respectively. The meso-scale model was created to analyze the overall thermal conduction behaviors of 2.5DAWC, including the temperature and heat flux distributions. The effects of voids and interface thermal contact resistance on the thermal conductivity were also considered and analyzed in this paper. The results from FEA showed reasonable agreement with the experimental with an error of less than 5%. The methodology of this paper could be applied to understand the thermal conduction behaviors of complicated structural composites, and also can be used to predict the coupled thermal-mechanical properties of composites.