High thermal conductivity graphite nanoplatelet/UHMWPE nanocomposites

Abstract

High thermal conductivity graphite nanoplatelet/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (GNPs/UHMWPE) nanocomposites are fabricated via mechanical ball milling followed by a hot-pressing method. The GNPs are located at the interface of the UHMWPE matrix. The thermal conductivity coefficient of the GNPs/UHMWPE nanocomposite is greatly improved to 4.624 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ with 21.4 vol% GNPs, 9 times higher than that of the original UHMWPE matrix. The significantly high improvement of the thermal conductivity is ascribed to the formation of multidimensional thermally conductive GNPs–GNPs networks, and the GNPs have a strong ability to form continuous thermally conductive networks. The method of cooling-pressing on the machine is more beneficial for the improvement of the thermal conductivity, by increasing the crystallinity of the UHMWPE matrix. Furthermore, the thermal stabilities of the GNPs/UHMWPE nanocomposites are increased with increasing addition of GNPs.