Enhanced thermal conductivity of carbon fiber/phenolic resin composites by the introduction of carbon nanotubes

Abstract

The authors report a significant enhancement in the thermal conductivity of a conventional carbon fiber/phenolic resin composite system when adding highly crystalline multiwalled carbon nanotubes. They demonstrate that $7\mathrm{wt}\%$ of carbon nanotubes dispersed homogeneously in a phenolic resin acted as an effective thermal bridge between adjacent carbon fibers and resulted in an enhancement of the thermal conductivity (e.g., from $250\text{to}393\mathrm{W}∕\mathrm{m}\mathrm{K}$ ). These results indicate that highly crystalline carbon nanotubes can be used as a multifunctional filler to enhance simultaneously the mechanical and thermal properties of the carbon fiber/phenolic resin composites.