Heat transfer in polyethylene nanocomposites: A multiscale approach

In this paper, using the non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulation approach, and the effective medium approximation (EMA) method, we investigate the effect of graphene nanoscale filler, as an enhancer, on the effective thermal conductivity of polyethylene-based nanocomposites. Our results suggest that the thermal conductivity of polyethylene at room temperature was estimated to be nearly 0.21 W/m.K, through using the reactive bond order (AIREBO) interatomic potential. This study shows that by increasing the volume fraction of graphene nanofillers, the effective thermal conductivity of the nanocomposite increases. We also observed that by increasing the volume fraction of graphene from 1% to 3%, the normalized thermal conductivity of nanocomposite increases to nearly 55%..