Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38

DOI 10.1007/s12588-012-9028-2
R E S E A R C H A RT I C L E

A simulation study on thermal conductivity of glass bead

embedded polymeric system

Debasmita Mishra & Alok Satapathy & Amar Patnaik

Received: 20 October 2011 / Accepted: 29 May 2012 / Published online: 25 July 2012
# Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology 2012

Abstract A numerical simulation of the heat-transfer process within epoxy matrix

composites filled with solid glass beads (SGB) is made by using finite element
analysis (FEA). A commercially available finite-element package ANSYS is used
for this numerical analysis. Three-dimensional spheres-in-cube lattice array models
are constructed to simulate the microstructure of composite materials for various SGB
content ranging from about 1 to 18 vol.% and the effective thermal conductivities
(Keff) of the composites are estimated. The results show that the FEA simulated
effective thermal conductivity decreases almost in a parabolic manner with increase
in the volume fraction of the SGB fillers in the composites. Finally, the simulations
are compared with measured Keff values obtained from experiments. Guarded heat
flow meter test method is used employing the instrument Unitherm™ Model 2022 as
per ASTM-E1530 to measure the thermal conductivity of these composites fabricated
by hand layup technique. This study shows that the incorporation of SGB results in
reduction of heat conductivity of epoxy resin and thereby improves its thermal
insulation capability. The experimentally measured conductivity values are compared
with the numerically calculated ones and it is found that FEA simulations are fairly
close to the measured Keff.

Keywords Polymer composites . Solid glass beads . Finite element analysis . Effective
thermal conductivity . Simulation

D. Mishra (*) : A. Satapathy

National Institute of Technology, Rourkela 769008, India
e-mail: debasmita.mishra01@gmail.com
A. Satapathy
e-mail: satapathy.alok@gmail.com

A. Patnaik
National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur 177005, India
email: patnaik.amar@gmail.com
Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38 25

Introduction

The improved performance of polymers and their composites in industrial and

structural applications by the addition of solid filler materials has shown great
promise and so has lately been a subject of considerable interest. For many
material applications, information is needed on their thermal properties. An
increase in temperature of approximately 10 °C reduces the mean time to
failure by a factor of two [1]. Hence the thermal performance of molded
plastic packages is very important. Reinforced polymeric materials are being
widely used in electronic systems due to their ease of manufacturability, light
weight and tailorable properties. Electronic systems produce a lot of heat
during operation. As the size of packages becomes smaller they encounter
increasingly higher temperatures. Increased temperature adversely affects the
reliability and electrical performance of the product. The increased application
of composite materials in the electronic industry has renewed interest in the
development of theoretical and experimental models for determination of the
effective thermal conductivity of composite materials. Determination of the
thermal conductivity of composite materials is crucial in a number of industrial
processes. Despite the importance of this material property and the consider-
able number of studies that have been carried out, the determination of
effective thermal conductivity of a composite is partially understood. The
effective thermal conductivity of a composite material is complex function of
their geometry, the thermal conductivity of the different phases, distribution
within the medium, and contact between the particles. Various kinds of poly-
mers, and polymer matrix composites reinforced with metal particles have a
wide range of industrial applications such as heaters, electrodes [2], composites
with thermal durability at high temperature [3] etc. These engineering composites
are desired due to their low density, high corrosion resistance, ease of fabrica-
tion and low cost [4–7]. Increasing use of polymer composites for various applica-
tions emphasizes its importance/significance in the thermal property analysis of an
engineering system. Conductivity is one such important thermal property that needs
to be evaluated for any new composite system. Generally, measuring the thermal
conductivity accurately is helpful to study the heat transfer process and mechanisms
in composite materials. Although it can be measured by experimental methods,
analytical methods and equations are often essential to predict thermal conductivities
of composite materials.
Considerable work has been reported on the subject of heat conductivity in
polymers by Hansen and Ho [8], Peng and Landel [9], Choy and Young [10], Tavman
[11] etc. The fillers most frequently used are aluminum, copper and brass particles,
short carbon fiber, carbon particles, graphite, aluminum nitride, magnetite particles
etc. Progelhof et al. [12] were the first to present an exhaustive overview on models
and methods for predicting the thermal conductivity of composite systems. Procter
and Solc [13] used Nielsen model as a prediction to investigate the thermal conduc-
tivity of several types of polymer composites filled with different fillers and con-
firmed its applicability. While Kumlutas and Tavman [14] carried out a numerical and
experimental study on thermal conductivity of particle filled polymer composites,
Amar et al. [15] reported the existence of a possible correlation between thermal
26 Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38

conductivity and wear resistance of particulate filled composites. Recently Nayak et

al. [16] have reported on the modified thermal conductivity of pine wood dust filled
epoxy-based composites.
Reinforced Polymeric Materials are being increasingly used in electronic
systems due to their ease in manufacturing, light weight property and excellent
tailorable properties. Electronic systems produce a lot of waste heat during
operation. As the size of packages becomes smaller they encounter increasing-
ly higher temperatures. Increased temperature adversely affects the reliability
and electrical performance of the product. An increase in temperature of
approximately 10 °C reduces the mean time to failure by a factor of two
[1]. Therefore, the thermal performance of molded plastic packages is very
important. The increased application of composite materials in the electronic
industry has generated renewed interest in the development of theoretical and
experimental models for determination of the effective thermal conductivity of
composite materials.
Epoxy, Silicone resin, polyethylene, polystyrene, polyamide and polytetra-
fluoroetylene(PTFE) are examples of known polymers investigated for their heat
dissipation properties. A matrix of epoxy which is the most commonly used
encapsulant in microelectronic industry, attracts special interest because of its
excellent electrical insulation. Epoxy molding compound (EMC), which consists
of epoxy and fused silica, is currently used as typical encapsulant for large size
chips and small package devices. Nevertheless, its thermal conductivity is rather
low, because of the low conductivity of epoxy and silica(e.g., only 0.7 W/mK
for 70 vol.% silica. Theoretical studies on effective thermal conductivity of
composite have been continued for more than 100 years. Many analytical
solutions [17–21] were deduced based on various structure models. However,
there are still many cases in which there is no analytical solution available, for
example, for composites made of components with anisotropic thermal conduc-
tivity. Finite element method (FEM) is frequently used to compute effective
mechanical and thermal properties for heterogeneous material systems. It is a
general method and can be applied to cases that cannot be solved by analytical
method.
The heat transfer process in porous materials is very complicated, especially
for polymer composites. It is quite important, therefore, to understand the
mechanisms of heat transfer in polymer composites. For porous materials,
several researchers have derived effective thermal conductivity equations based
on the Maxwell expression, or established a more accurate formula for calcu-
lating the effective thermal conductivity of such materials. The models proposed
respectively by Nielsen [22] and Cheng–Vachon [7] can better estimate the
effective thermal conductivity of filled composite materials, while the Agari–
Nagai [23] equation can predict for composites with high particle loading. While
Liang and Qu [24] analyzed the thermal conductivity of a porous material with closed
spherical and cylindrical holes, Suvorov et al. [25] studied the thermal conductivity of
hollow emery filled composites.
There are only a few published papers on evaluation of effective thermal
conductivity of polymer composites filled with glass beads. Liang and Li [26]
reported on measurement of thermal conductivity of hollow glass-bead-filled
Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38 27

polypropylene composites. Recently, they [27]) also made two-dimensional and

three-dimensional finite element analysis on the heat transfer and simulated the
variation of effective thermal conductivity of hollow glass microsphere filled polymer
composites. Liang and Li [28] further studied the heat transfer in polymer composites
filled with hollow glass micro-spheres and proposed a theoretical model to predict the
thermal conductivity of such composite systems. Yung et al. [29] have also reported
the preparation and properties of hollow glass microsphere-filled epoxy–matrix
composites. But all these studies are for polymer composites filled with hollow
glass spheres and surprisingly, there is no report available on evaluation of
effective thermal conductivity of solid glass microsphere filled polymer compo-
sites. In view of the above, the present work is undertaken to evaluate the
thermal conductivity of epoxy–matrix composites filled with solid glass beads
(micro-spheres) both experimentally as well as numerically using FEA.

Theoretical model

Many theoretical and empirical models have been proposed to predict the
effective thermal conductivity of two-phase mixtures. Comprehensive review
articles have discussed the applicability of many of these models [19]. For a
two-component composite, the simplest alternatives would be with the materials
arranged in either parallel or series with respect to heat flow, which gives the
upper or lower bounds of effective thermal conductivity. For the parallel
conduction model:
kc ¼ ð1  fÞkm þ fkf ð1Þ
where kc, km, kf are the thermal conductivities of the composite, the matrix and the
filler respectively and Øf is the volume fraction of filler.
For series conduction model:
1 1  ff ff
¼ þ ð2Þ
ke kc kd
The correlations presented by Eqs. (1) and (2) are derived on the basis of the rules-
of-mixture. Tsao [30] derived an equation relating the two-phase solid mixture
thermal conductivity to the conductivity of the individual components and to two
parameters which describe the spatial distribution of the two phases. By assuming a
parabolic distribution of the discontinuous phase in the continuous phase, Cheng and
Vachon [31] obtained a solution to Tsao’s [30] model that did not require knowledge
of additional parameters. Agari and Uno [32] propose a new model for filled
polymers, which takes into account parallel and series conduction mechanisms.
According to this model, the expression that governs the thermal conductivity of
the composition:
logkc ¼ f log C1 kf þ ð1  fÞ logðC2 km Þ ð3Þ
where C1, C2 are experimentally determined constants of order unity. C1 is a
measure of the effect of the particles on the secondary structure of the polymer, like
crystallinity and the crystal size of the polymer. C2 measures the ease of the particles
28 Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38

to form conductive chains. Later, they modified the model to take into account the
shape of the particles [33]. Generally, this semi-empirical model seems to fit the
experimental data well. However, adequate experimental data is needed for each type of
composite in order to determine the necessary constants. For an infinitely dilute
composite of spherical particles, the exact expression for the effective thermal
conductivity is given as:


k kd  kc
¼1þ3 ð4Þ
kc kd þ 2kc
where k, kc and kd are thermal conductivities of composite, continuous-phase (ma-
trix), and dispersed-phase (filler), respectively, and Ø is the volume fraction of the
dispersed-phase. Eq. (4) is the well known Maxwell equation [34] for dilute compo-
sites. The correlations presented by Eqs. 1 and 2 are derived on the basis of the Rules
of Mixture (ROM). Lewis and Nielsen [Dilek Kumlutas, et al. [14] derived a semi-
theoretical model by a modification of the Halpin-Tsai equation for a two-phase
system:

kc ¼ km ½ð1 þ ABfÞ=ð1  Bfy Þ ð5Þ

 kf  
1  
Where, B ¼  kkmf  y ¼ 1 þ fð1  fm Þg f2m f
km þA

For an infinitely dilute composite of spherical filler particles, the exact expression
for the effective thermal conductivity is given by Maxwell [34] as:

k kd  kc
¼1þ3 ð6Þ
kc kd þ 2kc
where k, kc and kd are thermal conductivities of composite, continuous-phase (ma-
trix), and dispersed-phase (filler), respectively and Ø is the volume fraction of the
dispersed-phase.
Russell obtained the conductivity using a series parallel network
" #  
2 km 2 km  2=3
kc ¼ km Φ 3 þ   Φ 3  Φ þ 1 þ Φ  Φ ð7Þ
kf 1  Φ2=3 kf

An exhaustive review of the published literature reveals that most of the

investigations are aimed at enhancing the thermal conductivity of the polymer
rather than attempting to improve its insulation capabilities. Foamed plastic is a
polymeric material commonly used as thermal insulation. However, its applica-
tion is limited considerably due to its poor mechanical properties. There is,
therefore, a focus on fabricating a kind of reinforced polymeric system which is
light but has better mechanical strength and good thermal insulation properties.
Rigid glass micro-spheres (glass beads) have some advantages as fillers in
polymers such as low thermal conductivity, coefficient and density. In addition,
these micro-particles do not generate important stress concentration in the
interface between the fillers and the matrix owing to their smooth spherical
surface [10]. This type of composites can be applied in building materials, space
flight and aviation industry. Glass beads are preferred as fillers especially when
Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38 29

composite properties such as isotropy or low melt viscosity are important. Moreover,
the orientation effects associated to molding are minimal.

Experimental details

Composite fabrication

Epoxy LY 556 resin, chemically belonging to the ‘epoxide’ family is used as

the matrix material. Its common name is Bisphenol-A-Diglycidyl-Ether. The
epoxy resin and the hardener are supplied by Ciba Geigy India Ltd. Epoxy is
chosen primarily because it happens to be the most commonly used polymer
and because of its low density (1.1 gm/cc) and low value of thermal conduc-
tivity (0.363 W/mK). Spherical glass beads (SGB) of 100,200 and 300 μm
mean particle size, supplied by Glass Bead Industries India Ltd. are reinforced
in epoxy resin to prepare the composites. This low temperature curing epoxy
resin and the corresponding hardener (HY951) are mixed in a ratio of 10:1 by
weight as recommended. The dough (epoxy filled with SGB) is then slowly
decanted into the glass molds, coated beforehand with wax and a uniform thin
film of silicone-releasing agent. The composites are cast in these molds so as to
get disc type cylindrical specimens (dia 25 mm, thickness 5 mm). Composites
of six different compositions (0, 1.4, 3.4, 6.5, 11.3 and 17.9 vol.% of SGB
respectively) as listed in Table 1 are made. The castings are left to cure at room
temperature for about 24 h after which the glass molds are broken and samples are
released.

Experimental determination of thermal conductivity

Unitherm™ Model 2022 is used to measure thermal conductivity of a variety of

materials. These include polymers, ceramics, composites, glasses, rubbers, met-
als and other materials of low to medium thermal conductivity. Only a rela-
tively small test sample is required. Non-solids, such as pastes or liquids, can
be tested using special containers. Thin films can also be tested accurately
using a multi-layer technique. The tests are in accordance with ASTM E-1530
standard.

Table 1 List of particulate filled

Samples Composition
composites fabricated by hand-lay-
up technique
1 Epoxy + 0 vol.% (0 wt.%) Filler
2 Epoxy + 1.4 vol.% (2 wt.%) Filler
3 Epoxy + 3.4 vol.% (4.5 wt.%) Filler
4 Epoxy + 6.5 vol.% (8.5 wt.%) Filler
5 Epoxy + 11.3 vol.% (15 wt.%) Filler
6 Epoxy+17.9 vol.% (23 %) Filler
30 Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram showing a typical arrangement of SGB within the epoxy body

Numerical analysis: concept of finite element method and ANSYS

The finite element analysis (FEA), originally introduced by Turner et al. [35], is a
powerful computational technique for approximate solutions to a variety of “real-
world” engineering problems having complex domains subjected to general boundary
conditions. FEA has become an essential step in the design or modeling of a physical
phenomenon in various engineering disciplines. A physical phenomenon usually
occurs in a continuum of matter (solid, liquid, or gas) involving several field
variables. The field variables vary from point to point, thus possessing an infinite
number of solutions in the domain. The basis of FEA relies on the decomposition of

F
G

E
H
a

Kf

Km
D C
T2
a
y a

A B
Q
x

Fig. 2 The heat flow direction and boundary conditions for the particulate-polymer composite
Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38 31

the domain into a finite number of sub-domains (elements) for which the systematic
approximate solution is constructed by applying the variational or weighted residual
methods. In effect, FEA reduces the problem to that of a finite number of unknowns
by dividing the domain into elements and by expressing the unknown field variable in
terms of the assumed approximating functions within each element. These functions
(also called interpolation functions) are defined in terms of the values of the field
variables at specific points, referred to as nodes. Nodes are usually located along the
element boundaries and they connect adjacent elements. The ability to discretize the
irregular domains with finite elements makes the method a valuable and practical
analysis tool for the solution of boundary, initial and Eigen-value problems arising in
various engineering disciplines. The FEA is thus a numerical procedure that can be
used to obtain solutions for a large class of engineering problems involving stress
analysis, heat transfer, fluid flow etc. ANSYS is general-purpose finite-element
modeling package for numerically solving a wide variety of mechanical problems
that include static/dynamic, structural analysis (both linear and nonlinear), heat
transfer, and fluid problems, as well as acoustic and electromagnetic problems.

Results and discussion

Numerical analysis

Using the finite-element program ANSYS, thermal analysis is carried out for the
conductive heat transfer through the composite body. In order to make this analysis,
three-dimensional physical models with spheres-in-cube lattice arrays have been used
to simulate the microstructure of composite materials for five different filler concen-
trations. Furthermore, the effective thermal conductivities of these epoxy composites

Fig. 3 A typical 3-D spheres-in-cube model with filler concentration of 1.4 vol.%
32 Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38

filled with SGB up to about 17.9 % by volume are numerically determined using
ANSYS.

Fig. 4 a Temperature profile for epoxy-SGB composite with filler concentration of 1.4 vol.%, b Temper-
ature profile for epoxy-SGB composite with filler concentration of 3.4 vol.%, c Temperature profile for
epoxy-SGB composite with filler concentration of 6.5 vol.%, d Temperature profile for epoxy-SGB
composite with filler concentration of 11.3 vol.%, e Temperature profile for epoxy-SGB composite with
filler concentration of 17.9 vol.%
Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38 33

Table 2 Thermal conductivity values for composites obtained from FEA, Experiment and the associated
percentage errors with respect to the experimental value

Sample SGB content (vol.%) Effective thermal conductivity of composites Keff (W/m K)

FEA (Spheres-in-cube Model) Experimental value Percentage errors

1 0 – 0.363 –
2 1.4 0.2862 0.293 0.7
3 3.4 0.2568 0.267 1.1
4 6.5 0.2283 0.237 0.9
5 11.3 0.2195 0.232 1.3
6 17.9 0.2145 0.229 1.5

Description of the problem

The determination of effective properties of composites is of paramount impor-

tance for functional design and application of composite materials. One of the
important factors that influence the effective properties and can be controlled to
an appreciable extent is the microstructure of the composite. Here, microstruc-
ture means the shape, size distribution, spatial distribution and orientation
distribution of the reinforcing inclusion in the matrix. Although most composite
possess inclusion of random distributions, great insight of the effect of micro-
structure on the effective properties can be gained from the investigation of
composites with periodic structure. System with periodic structures can be more
easily analyzed because of the high degree of symmetry embedded in the
system.
A typical periodic arrangement of solid glass beads within the epoxy body is
schematically shown in Fig. 1. Figure 2 clearly illustrates the heat flow direction
and the boundary conditions for the particulate-polymer composite body considered
for the analysis of this conduction problem. The temperature at the nodes along the
surfaces ABCD is prescribed as T1 (0100° C) and the ambient convective heat
transfer coefficient is assumed to be 25 W/m2-K at room temperature of 27 °C. The

Table 3 The thermal conductivity values for composites obtained from various models with respect to
experimental values

SGM content vol.% Effective thermal conductivity (W/m-K)

Maxwell’s equation Lewis Neilsen’s equation Russell’s model Experimental

0 0.363 0.363 0.363 0.363

1.4 0.3566 0.356 0.3618 0.293
3.4 0.3377 0.349 0.3591 0.267
6.5 0.3328 0.344 0.3515 0.237
11.3 0.3245 0.338 0.332 0.232
17.9 0.318 0.332 0.3075 0.229
34 Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38

Table 4 The thermal conductivity values obtained from FEM with respect to proposed models and
experimental values

SGM content vol.% Effective thermal conductivity (W/m-K)

FEM simulation Proposed theoritical model Experimental

0 0.3630 0.3630 0.363

1.4 0.2862 0.2783 0.293
3.4 0.2568 0.2527 0.267
6.5 0.2283 0.2340 0.237
11.3 0.2195 0.2283 0.232
17.9 0.2145 0.2220 0.229

other surfaces parallel to the direction of the heat flow are all assumed adiabatic. The
temperatures at the nodes in the interior region and on the other boundaries are
unknown. These temperatures are obtained with the help of the finite-element
program package ANSYS. In this analysis it is assumed that the composites are
macroscopically homogeneous, locally both the matrix and filler are homogeneous
and isotropic, the thermal contact resistance between the filler and the matrix is
negligible and the composite lamina is free from voids. The problem is based on
3D physical model and the filler arranged in a square periodic array are assumed to be
uniformly distributed in the matrix.
Thermal conductivities of these SGB-epoxy composites are numerically estimated
by using the spheres-in-cube model. A typical 3-D model showing arrangement of
spherical fillers with a particle concentration of 1.4 vol.% within the cube shaped
matrix body is illustrated in Fig. 3. The temperature profiles obtained from FEA
analysis for the composites with particulate concentrations of 1.4, 3.4, 6.5, 11.3 and
17.9 vol.% are presented in Fig. 4a–e respectively.
The simulated values of effective thermal conductivity of the composites obtained
from FEA are presented in Table 2 along with the corresponding measured values. It
is noticed that the results obtained from the finite-element analysis taking sphere-in-
cube composite model are reasonably closer to the measured values of effective
thermal conductivity for composites of different filler content. The percentage errors
associated with the FEA values with respect to the experimental values is given in

Table 5 % drop in thermal conductivity

Vol. fraction FEM Maxwell’s Lewis and Neilsen’s Russell’s Proposed Experimental
(%) equation equation model model

0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1.4 21.150 1.763 1.928 0.33 23.333 19.283
3.4 29.256 6.969 3.856 1.074 30.385 26.446
6.5 37.107 8.319 5.234 3.168 35.537 34.710
11.3 39.531 10.606 6.887 8.539 37.107 36.088
17.9 40.909 12.396 8.539 15.289 38.842 36.914
Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38 35

Fig. 5 a Temperature profile for epoxy-SGB composite with filler concentration of 5 vol.%, b Temperature
profile for epoxy-SGB composite with filler concentration of 10 vol.%, c Temperature profile for epoxy-
SGB composite with filler concentration of 15 vol.%, d Temperature profile for epoxy-SGB composite with
filler concentration of 20 vol.%, e Temperature profile for epoxy-SGB composite with filler concentration
of 25 vol.%, f Temperature profile for epoxy-SGB composite with filler concentration of 30 vol.%

Table 3. It is seen from this table that the errors associated with sphere-in-cube model
simulations lie in the range 0–2 %. On comparing, it is further noticed that FEA
underestimates the value of thermal conductivity, with respect to the experimental
36 Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38

0.375

Experimental
Effective thermal conductivity (W/mK)

0.35

FEM simulation
0.325

0.3

0.275

0.25

0.225

0.2
0 1.4 3.4 6.5 11.3 17.9
SGM content (vol %)
Fig. 6 Variation of effective thermal conductivity with filler content

ones. However, it leads to a conclusion that for a particulate filled composite of this
kind the finite element analysis can very well be used for predictive purpose in
determining the effective thermal conductivity for a wide range of particle concen-
tration (Tables 4 and 5).
Figure 5 presents the variation of effective thermal conductivity (both simulated as
well as measured) as a function of the SGB content in the composites. The difference
between the simulated values and the measured value of conductivity may be attributed
to the fact that some of the assumptions taken for the numerical analysis are not real. The
distribution of SGB in the matrix body in the numerical analysis is assumed to be in an

0.45

Maxwell model Lewis-Neilson model

Russell model Experimental
Effective thermal conductivity (W/mK)

0.4
FEM simulation

0.35

0.3

0.25

0.2
0 1.4 3.4 6.5 11.3 17.9
SGM content (vol %)
Fig. 7 Variation of effective thermal conductivity (both simulated as well as measured) as a function of the
SGM content in the composites for 100 μm filler size
Int J Plast Technol (June 2012) 16(1):24–38 37

0.4
Maxwell's model Lewis-Neilsen's model

Effective thermal conductivity (W/m-K)

Russell's model FEM model
0.36

0.32

0.28

0.24
0 6.72 11.309 26.8
SGM content (vol %)
Fig. 8 Variation of effective thermal conductivity (both simulated as well as measured) as a function of the
SGM content in the composites for 200 μm filler size

arranged manner, whereas in the fabricated composite sample, the glass beads are
actually dispersed in the resin almost randomly. However, it is encouraging to note that
the incorporation of SGB results in significant drop in thermal conductivity of epoxy
resin. With addition of 1.4 vol.% of SGB, the thermal conductivity decreases by about
19.283 % and with addition of 17.9 vol.% of SGB the thermal conductivity decreases by
about 36.914 % when compared with neat epoxy resin (Figs. 6, 7 and 8).

Conclusions

This numerical and experimental investigation on thermal conductivity of SGB filled

epoxy composites has led to the following specific conclusions:
& Successful fabrication of epoxy based composites filled with SGB by hand-lay-up
technique is possible.
& The value of effective thermal conductivity obtained for various composite models
using FEA are in reasonable agreement with the experimental values for a wide
range of filler content. Hence finite element analysis can be gainfully employed as a
predictive tool to determine effective thermal conductivity of these composites.
& Incorporation of SGB results in reduction of thermal conductivity of epoxy resin
and there by improves its thermal insulation capability. With addition of 1.4 vol.%
of SGB, the thermal conductivity drops by about 19.283 % while with addition of
17.9 % of SGB, a drop of about 36.9 % in the thermal conductivity is achieved.
& With light weight and improved insulation capability SGB filled epoxy composite
can be used for applications such as electronic packages, insulation board, food
container, thermo flasks, building materials, space flight and aviation industry etc.

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