Establishment of Regularities of Influence on the Specific Heat Capacity and Thermal Diffusivity of Polymer Nanocomposites of A Complex of Defining Parameters

Abstract

This paper reports a series of experimental studies to establish regularities of the integrated effect exerted on the specific heat capacity of polymer nanocomposites by such factors as the temperature regime of their production, the value of the mass fraction of the filler, and the temperature of the composite material. The studies were conducted for nanocomposites based on polypropylene filled with carbon nanotubes. When obtaining composites, the method of mixing the components in the melt of the polymer was used. During the studies, the temperature of nanocomposites varied from 295 to 455 K, the mass fraction of the filler ‒ from 0.3 to 10 %. The basic parameter of the technological mode for obtaining composite materials, the value of overheating the polymer melt relative to its melting point, varied in the range of 10...75 K. It is shown that the temperature dependence of the specific heat capacity of the considered composites is sensitive to changes in the overheating of the polymer melt only in the region maximum values of the specific heat capacity. Concentration dependences of the specific heat capacity of the considered nanocomposites at different values of their temperature and the level of overheating of the polymer melt have been built. The studies have been carried out to identify the effects of the influence of the above parameters on the coefficient of thermal diffusivity of nanocomposites. It has been established, in particular, that an increase in the level of overheating the polymer could lead to a very significant increase in the coefficient of thermal diffusivity, which is all the more significant the higher the proportion of filler and the lower the temperature of the composite material. It is shown that the level of overheating the polymer melt relative to its melting point is a parameter that can be used as the basis for the creation of polymer composite materials with specified thermophysical properties