Micromechanical modeling of effective thermal conductivity in polymer matrix composites containing short microscale fibers and graphene nanoscale fillers
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2026
Micromechanical modeling of effective thermal conductivity in polymer matrix composites containing short microscale fibers and graphene nanoscale fillers
The engineering of polymer-based hybrid composites with enhanced thermal management capabilities is pivotal for advancing high-performance application across multiple industrial domains. In this work, a comprehensive micromechanical modeling approach is developed to predict the effective thermal conductivity of polymer composite reinforced with short carbon fiber (SCF) and graphene nanofillers. Initially, the thermal conductivity of the polymer matrix with graphene fillers is modeled by incorporating microstructural parameters such as volume fraction and dimensions (length and thickness) of nanofillers as well as the graphene/polymer interfacial thermal resistance. Subsequently, the Halpin-Tsai model is implemented to capture the thermal conductivity enhancement in the hybrid composite, wherein aligned SCF serves as the primary reinforcement phase embedded within graphene-polymer matrix. The parametric influence of SCF aspect ratio on the overall thermal coefficients is systematically evaluated. The results demonstrate that the integration of graphene fillers significantly amplifies the thermal conductivity of SCF–reinforced polymer composites. Moreover, increasing the length while reducing the thickness of graphene nanofillers noticeably improves the thermal transport properties of hybrid composite. This investigation offers critical mechanistic insights and optimization of next-generation hybrid composite for demanding thermal management applications in high-performance device.
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