Sumit Sharma; Pramod Kumar; Ajay Kumar Diwakar
Abstract
Nowadays there is a requirement of material that has high thermal conductivity as well as suitable electric insulating properties. Such materials are required in industries where thermal management is desirable but electrical conductivity is not required, such as substrates for electronic components ...
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Nowadays there is a requirement of material that has high thermal conductivity as well as suitable electric insulating properties. Such materials are required in industries where thermal management is desirable but electrical conductivity is not required, such as substrates for electronic components and solar panels. In this study, the multi-scale modeling of epoxy (bisphenol-A) reinforced alumina composite has been performed using BIOVIA Materials Studio and Abaqus. Modeling has been done for varying volume fraction (Vf) of alumina. The properties predicted are the thermal conductivity and Young’s modulus. Heat transfer analysis has been done using Abaqus/Explicit. It was found that the thermal conductivity first increased till Vf = 20% and then decreased. When the concentration of alumina was increased further after Vf = 20%, the orientation of alumina particles changed from being in-plane to random, resulting in a fall in the values of thermal conductivity. In the silicon/insulator plate system, there was found to be an accumulation of heat resulting in a decrease in temperature on the bottom surface of the insulator plate. Thus, more time was taken for the heat to conduct through this system. Whereas, when the heat was transferred through the system of silicon/composite plate, no accumulation of heat in the system was observed.

Julieta Guti
Abstract
The objective of this work was to study the effect of incorporating a microencapsulated healing agent in an epoxy matrix and E-glass fiber reinforced composite. Microcapsules were prepared via oil-in-water emulsion polymerization method with dicyclopentadiene as core material and poly(urea-formaldehyde) ...
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The objective of this work was to study the effect of incorporating a microencapsulated healing agent in an epoxy matrix and E-glass fiber reinforced composite. Microcapsules were prepared via oil-in-water emulsion polymerization method with dicyclopentadiene as core material and poly(urea-formaldehyde) (PUF) as shell material. The suitable formulation for the epoxy matrix was selected based on the study of the rheological and mechanical properties of various chemical systems. Different amounts of microcapsules were incorporated and the most appropriate processing method (mixing, curing and post-curing cycle) was evaluated. Furthermore, flexural and fracture tests were carried out and the distribution of the capsules as well as the interfacial adhesion with the epoxy matrix were studied. Finally, the processing of fiber reinforced composites, with and without microcapsules, was carried out by compression molding and the mechanical properties of the composites were studied (modulus and maximum flexural strain) from testing three-point bending. The resulting samples with 32 wt. % of fibers and matrices with no microcapsules were compared. Compression molding technique did not affect the integrity of the microcapsules inside the composites.