Micromechanical modeling of thermal conducting behavior of general carbon nanotube-polymer nanocomposites

•Thermal conductivities of the general CNT-polymer nanocomposites are predicted.•Good agreement is observed between the predictions and available experiment.•CNT/polymer interface thermal resistance is taken into account.•Straight and wavy CNTs are included in the analysis. Overall thermal conductivities of general carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced polymer nanocomposites are predicted using the effective medium approach. Both straight and wavy and also aligned, 2-dimensinal (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) randomly oriented CNTs are included in the analysis. The CNT/polymer interface thermal resistance and temperature dependency of the constituent's properties are taken into account. The effects of volume fraction, diameter and non-straight shape of CNTs, interfacial thermal resistance and temperature are investigated on the nanocomposite overall heat transfer behavior. Generally, a good agreement is observed between the results of the presented model and experimental data. The results emphasize that the consideration of the proper waviness and 3D random orientation of CNTs together with the interfacial thermal resistance into the analysis is essential for a more realistic prediction. Effective conducting response of the 3D randomly oriented wavy CNT-reinforced nanocomposites is considerably higher than those of 3D randomly oriented straight CNT-reinforced nanocomposites.