Correlations between Thermal Conductivity and Inelastic Deformation of Aluminum Based Composites Containing VGCF-CNT Network

Abstract

This paper evaluates the reliability of an aluminum based composite including vapor growth carbon fibers (VGCF) and carbon nanotubes (CNT). The composite is fabricated using spark plasma sintering and has high thermal conductivity. For the reliability evaluation, the correlation between the inelastic deformation and thermal conductivity of the composite is discussed both with experiments and simulation conducted by the finite element method (FEM). Specimens made from the composite are first subjected to tensile loading until inelastic strain occurs. After the tensile loading, the thermal conductivities of the specimens were measured to establish the differences between the thermal conductivity before and after the tensile loading. The FEM analyses are also conducted to evaluate the reliability of the composites. It was found that the thermal conductivity changed due to the inelastic deformation of the composites and that a FEM analysis considering the damage due to the deformation qualitatively estimates the differences in the thermal conductivity before and after the tensile loading.