Adding conductive carbon fillers to insulating thermoplastic resins increases composite electrical and thermal conductivity. Often, as much of a single type of carbon filler is added to achieve the desired conductivity, while still allowing the material to be molded into a bipolar plate for a fuel cell. In this study, varying amounts of three different carbons (carbon black, synthetic graphite particles, and carbon fiber) were added to Vectra A950RX Liquid Crystal Polymer. The resulting single filler composites were tested for electrical resistivity (1/electrical conductivity) and thermal conductivity. In addition, the effects of single fillers and combinations of two different carbon fillers were studied via a factorial design. The results indicated that for the composites containing only single fillers, synthetic graphite, followed by carbon fiber, cause a statistically significant decrease in composite electrical resistivity. Composites containing only synthetic graphite, followed by carbon black, and then carbon fiber cause a statistically significant increase in thermal conductivity. For the combinations of two different fillers, the composites containing carbon black/synthetic graphite and synthetic graphite/carbon fiber had a statistically significant and positive effect on thermal conductivity. It is possible that thermally conductive pathways are formed that “link” these carbon fillers, which results in increased composite thermal conductivity. POLYM. COMPOS., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers

ABSTRACT:The thermal and electrical conductivity of resins can be increased by adding conductive carbon fillers. One emerging market for thermally and electrically conductive resins is for bipolar plates for use in fuel cells. In this study, varying amounts of five different types of carbon, one carbon black, two synthetic graphites, one natural flake graphite, and one calcined needle coke, were added to Vectra A950RX Liquid Crystal Polymer. The resulting composites containing only one type of filler were then tested for thermal and electrical conductivity. The objective of this work was to determine which carbon filler produced a composite with the highest thermal and electrical conductivity. The results showed that composites containing Thermocarb TC-300 synthetic graphite particles had the highest thermal and electrical conductivity.

Thermally conductive resins are needed for fuel cell bipolar plates. Varying amounts of three different carbons (carbon black, synthetic graphite particles, and carbon fiber) were added to Vectra A950RX Liquid Crystal Polymer. The resulting single filler composites were tested for thermal conductivity. In addition, the effects of single fillers and combinations of two different carbon fillers were studied via a factorial design. Synthetic graphite caused the largest statistically significant increase in composite through plane and in plane thermal conductivity. Composites containing synthetic graphite/carbon black and synthetic graphite/carbon fiber caused a statistically significant increase in through plane and in plane thermal conductivity.

In this study, two different carbons (synthetic graphite particles and carbon fiber) were added to nylon 6,6, and the resulting composites were tested for both the through-plane thermal conductivity k thru and the inplane thermal conductivity k in , using the transient plane source method. The first goal of this work was to use a finite element model to develop a procedure to accurately measure the material properties using this relatively new analytical procedure. Reproducible data can be obtained for nylon 6,6 polymer composites, by choosing a power dissipation (an input parameter to the transient plane source method) corresponding to a sensor temperature increase of 2 K above the initial temperature after 5 s. The second goal of this work was to develop a simple empirical model for the in-plane thermal conductivity, which is easily measured with the transient plane source method. The results show that the product of the through-plane and in-plane thermal conductivities is a linear function of the volume percent . As the through-plane thermal conductivity of these composites is accurately predicted with a modified Nielsen model, this empirical relationship can be used to estimate in-plane thermal conductivities for a range of applications. POLYM. COMPOS., 27:1-7, 2006. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers

The thermal conductivity of insulating polymers can be increased by the addition of conductive fillers. One potential market for these thermally conductive resins is for fuel cell bipolar plates. In this study, various amounts of three different carbon fillers (carbon black, synthetic graphite particles, and carbon fiber) were added to Vectra A950RX liquid crystal polymer. Because the resulting composites were anisotropic, they were tested for both through-plane and in-plane thermal conductivities. The effects of single fillers and combinations of the different fillers were studied via a factorial design. Each single filler caused a statistically significant increase in composite through-plane and in-plane thermal conductivities at the 95% confidence level, with synthetic graphite causing the largest increase. All of the composites containing combinations of the different fillers caused statistically significant increases in the composite through-plane and in-plane thermal conductivities. It is possible that thermally conductive pathways were formed that linked these carbon fillers, which resulted in increased composite thermal conductivity. Composites containing 70, 75, and 80 wt % synthetic graphite and the composite containing all three fillers (2.5 wt % carbon black, 65 wt % synthetic graphite, and 5 wt % carbon fiber) had in-plane thermal conductivities of 20 W m 21 K 21 or higher, which is desirable for bipolar plates.