Effects of thermal contact resistance on the thermal conductivity of core-shell nanoparticle polymer composites

This paper describes a numerical study on the thermal conductivity (TC) of core-shell nanoparticle polymer composites under the effects of thermal contact resistance (TCR), in addition to other parameters. Finite element method is used for both numerical simulation and solving the related nonlinear equations. Consequently, the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) depends significantly on the TCR, and it decreases sharply for larger volume fractions (VF) and larger TC of core-shell. The ETC from the present study matches well with that obtained by Felske model only if the TCR is negligible. Core VF of 0.516 times greater than that of shell is a necessary condition for an existence of the maximum ETC regardless of the presence of the TCR. In addition, the ETC is independent on the TCR at core-shell interface when either the TCR at shell-matrix interface is large or the TC of shell approaches a critical value. Many other good guidance are provided for enhancing the TC of core-shell nanoparticle polymer composites, and it plays an important role in producing advanced polymer composites.