A review on modeling of the thermal conductivity of polymeric nanocomposites

This review reports recent advances in the field of thermal conductivity of polymeric nanocomposites. Thermally conductive polymeric nanocomposites can be used for replacing metal parts in several applications, such as liquid cooling and ventilation garment, power electronics, electric motors and generators, heat exchangers, etc., because the polymers have some privileges such as light weight, corrosion resistance, lower manufacturing cost and ease of processing. In this study, the thermal conductivity measurement and modeling of polymeric nanocomposites are discussed in general, and detailed examples are also drawn from the scientific literature. Many theoretical models are available to predict the thermal conductivity of nanocomposites. The simplest of these are mixture rules such as series, parallel, and geometric models. However, the series model typically over predicts the thermal conductivity, whereas the parallel model tends to under predict the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites. Other models such as the Hamilton-Crosser model and the Lewis-Nielsen model are based on particle size, geometry, and the manner of particle packing in the matrix. Also, there are various effective medium approaches (EMA) like the Maxwell-Garnett (MG) approximation to analyze the thermal transport behaviour in heterogeneous media such as thermal conductivity of some composite structures.