Publication Type
Journal
Journal Name
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Publication Date
Page Numbers
182 to 189
Volume
53
Abstract
The thermal conductivity of wood-derived graphite and graphite/copper
composites was studied both experimentally and using finite element analysis. The
unique, naturally-derived, anisotropic porosity inherent to wood-derived carbon
makes standard porosity-based approximations for thermal conductivity poor
estimators. For this reason, a finite element technique which uses sample
microstructure as model input was utilized to determine the conductivity of the
carbon phase independent of porosity. Similar modeling techniques were also
applied to carbon/copper composite microstructures and predicted conductivities
were compared to those determined via experiment.
