Unified practical bounds for the thermal conductivity of composite materials

Abstract

Two schemes for the thermal conductivity of three classes of composites - unidirectional continuous fibre composites, particulate composites and laminae sheets - are presented herein based on combination of parallel and series models. Comparison with experimental results reveals reasonable correlation even at extreme reinforcement-to-matrix thermal conductivity ratio. Results of the two sets of schemes further show that one is higher than the other. Hence, the two sets of solutions are named practical bounds due to their simplicity. By introducing a reinforcement parameter, the solutions for the three classes of composite materials are unified, and approximate solutions for another two classes of composite materials - unidirectional short fibre composites and aligned flake composites - are suggested based on the reinforcement parameter. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.