Boride ceramics covalent functionalization and its effect on the thermal conductivity of epoxy composites

Zirconium diboride/aluminium oxide (ZrB2/Al2O3) composite particles were functionalized with epoxide functionalized γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane by the covalent bonding approach to improve the interfacial compatibility of composite particles in epoxy matrix. The composites of epoxy resin filled with functionalized ZrB2/Al2O3 were prepared by in situ bulk condensation polymerization of bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin in the presence of ZrB2/Al2O3. The heat-conducting properties of composites were investigated by the finite element method (FEM) and the thermal conductivity test. The finite-element program ANSYS was used for this numerical analysis, and three-dimensional spheres-in-cube lattice array models were built to simulate the microstructure of composite materials for different filler contents. The thermal conductivity of composites was determined by laser flash method (LFA447 Nanoflash), using the measured heat capacity and thermal diffusivity, with separately entered density data. The results show that the effective chemical bonds are formed between ZrB2/Al2O3 and γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane after the surface functionalization. The interfacial compatibility and bonding of modified particles with the epoxy matrix are improved. The thermal conductivities of functionalized composites with 3 vol% and 5 vol% loading are increased by 8.3% and 12.5% relative to the unmodified composites, respectively. Comparison of experimental values and calculated values of the thermal conductivity, the average relative differences are under 5%. The predictive values of thermal conductivity of epoxy composites are in reasonable agreement with the experimental values.