Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Mechanical Engineering Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Thermal conductivity

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Study Of The Effective Thermal Conductivity Of Polymer Composites With Varying Filler Arrangements, Debraliz Isaac Aragones, Rajath Kantharaj, Aaditya Candadai, Amy Marconnet Aug 2018

Study Of The Effective Thermal Conductivity Of Polymer Composites With Varying Filler Arrangements, Debraliz Isaac Aragones, Rajath Kantharaj, Aaditya Candadai, Amy Marconnet

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Alternative thermal management solutions for electronic devices are being widely explored due to the increasing heat concentration that results from shrinking sizes and increasing power of modern electronics. Clearly, there is a need to spread the heat effectively in these systems, and polymer composites can potentially provide high thermal conductivity at low filler fraction while maintaining desirable mechanical properties for electronic packaging. The present study aims to investigate the effective thermal conductivity of various copper filler arrangements in a polymer matrix. The polymer composites are fabricated using laser cut acrylic templates to embed aligned copper rods in epoxy and create …


Spectral Phonon Relaxation Time Calculation Tool Based On Molecular Dynamics, Divya Chalise, Tianli Feng, Xiulin Ruan Aug 2017

Spectral Phonon Relaxation Time Calculation Tool Based On Molecular Dynamics, Divya Chalise, Tianli Feng, Xiulin Ruan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Thermal conductivity is an important material property which affects the performance of a wide range of devices from thermoelectrics to nanoelectronics. Information about phonon vibration modes and phonon relaxation time gives significant insight into understanding and engineering material’s thermal conductivity. Although different theoretical models have been developed for studying phonon modes and relaxation time, extensive knowledge of lattice dynamics and molecular dynamics is required to compute phonon modal frequencies and relaxation times. Therefore, a computational tool which can take simple inputs to calculate phonon mode frequencies and relaxation time will be beneficial. Through this research work, such computational tool has …


Effect Of Aggregation And Particle Size On The Thermal Conductivity Of Nickel-Epoxy Nanocomposites, Jacob M. Faulkner, Xiangyu Li, Xiulin Ruan Dr. Aug 2016

Effect Of Aggregation And Particle Size On The Thermal Conductivity Of Nickel-Epoxy Nanocomposites, Jacob M. Faulkner, Xiangyu Li, Xiulin Ruan Dr.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Microprocessor advancements have been stunted in recent years by inadequate means of heat dissipation as power continues to grow and size continues to shrink. One way to increase thermal conductivity while maintaining electrical insulation is to add metal nanoparticles to a polymer matrix. This cheap material has become a popular thermal interface for this reason. However, optimization of the interface is dependent upon a number of factors including particle size, shape, orientation, and aggregation. Various theoretical models and numerical approximations have been developed to find the effective thermal conductivity of such nanocomposites, but none has been able to fully incorporate …


Thermal Properties Of Soft Nanomaterials: Materials Synthesis And Fabrication, Meng Pan, Collier Miers, Amy Marconnet, Yu Han Aug 2014

Thermal Properties Of Soft Nanomaterials: Materials Synthesis And Fabrication, Meng Pan, Collier Miers, Amy Marconnet, Yu Han

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The properties of soft nanomaterials are hard to measure exactly due to their mechanical properties and unstable shape. In particular, hydrogels are a class of cross-linked polymers that can absorb large quantities of water changing their shape under the influence of various conditions such as humidity, temperature, and pH. This research addresses the fabrication of a material that has a significant contrast in properties under different conditions (e.g. temperature, wetting, and pH) and determine the physical mechanisms of heat transfer in this nanomaterial. The hydrogels are made using a several cycles of a freeze-thaw method. The method requires soluble material. …