Numerical study with experimental comparison of the thermophysical properties in a pigmented polymer matrix composite material pigmented with barium titanate

Abstract Many theoretical and semi-empirical approaches have been developed to determine the thermal conductivity of composites. These models give a better estimate for low filler concentrations. The work in this paper is aimed at the numerical and experimental study of the thermal behavior of polymer matrix composite materials (PSU and BaTiO3). The numerical resolution of the thermal heat transport for an elementary cell is based on the finite element technique. Special attention is paid to the effect of contact resistance, barium titanate fraction, and quenching temperature on the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic behavior of the composite. The obtained results show that the proposed numerical model agrees well with the experimental measurements and the analytical models of Hatta-Taya and Hashin-Shtrikman.