Particle Aspect-Ratio Effects on the Thermal Conductivity of Micro- and Nanoparticle Suspensions

The influence of particle anisotropy on the effective thermal conductivity of a suspension is experimentally investigated. Suspensions of micron-sized, silicon-carbide particles with varying aspect-ratio distributions were prepared and measured. It is shown that the conductivity of the silicon-carbide suspensions can be quantitatively predicted by the effective medium theory of Nan et al. (1997, "Effective Thermal Conductivity of Particulate Composites With Interfacial Thermal Resistance," J. Appl. Phys. 81(10), pp. 6692-6699), provided the volume-weighted aspect ratio of the particles is used. Recent experimental data on multiwalled-nanotube-in-oil suspensions by Yang et al. (2006, "Thermal and Rheological Properties of Carbon Nanotube-in-Oil Dispersions," J. Appl. Phys., 99(11), 114307) are also analyzed and shown to be in at least qualitative agreement with the effective-medium-theory prediction that the thermal conductivity of suspensions is enhanced by large aspect-ratio particles.

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