Processing of Polymers and Composites

Lecture 5 – 10/01/2020

Dr S. Gowthaman
Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing Kancheepuram
Chennai - 600127
Thermal Properties of
Polymers
Specific Heat of Polymers

Heat of Fusion of Various

Thermoplastic Polymers
Specific Heat of Polymers

Specific heat curves for a filled and

unfilled polycarbonate
Density
The two slopes in the curves represent the specific
volume of the melt and of the glassy amorphous polycarbonate, separated by the
glass transition temperature.
Density
p-v-T diagram for polyamide 66 as an example of a typical Melt region
semi-crystalline polymer
Thermal Conductivity of
Polymers
• Chain bends, chain gaps,
chain lengths control
phonon mean free path
• As temp. increases, chains
straighten out and
increase mean free path,
so TC increases upto Tg
• After Tg, chain rotations /
sliding reduce TC

• Amorphous polymers show an increase in thermal conductivity with increasing temperature, up to the glass
transition temperature, Tg. Above Tg, the thermal conductivity decreases with increasing temperature.

• Due to the increase in density upon solidification of semi-crystalline thermoplastics, the thermal conductivity is
higher in the solid state than in the melt.
Thermal Conductivity of
Polymers
Thermal Conductivity of
Polymers Influence of filler on
the thermal conductivity of LDPE
Thermal conductivity as a function of draw ratio in the
directions perpendicular and parallel to the draw
direction for various oriented thermoplastics
Thermal Conductivity of
Polymers Influence of glass
fiber on the thermal conductivity
of polyamide 6 Influence of glass
fiber on the thermal conductivity
of polycarbonate
 Thermal Conductivity Measurements
ASTM Standards for K Measurement
• D5930 – Transient line source technique
Fourier’s Law of Heat • C1113 – Hot wire method
Conduction • C177 – Guarded hot plate method
• E1530 – Guarded heat flow meter method
T1 T2 • E1952 – Modulated differential scanning calorimeter

CS Area,
• E1225 – Guarded comparative longitudinal heat flow method
A • E1461 – Flash method
Q

Q  l 
K    
 A   T1  T2 
 Heat Flow Meter and Test Results
Low Cost and Large Range

Three Bar Set-up Equipment

Schematic Test Results
Heat sink, Al • Steady state heat flow method
Z 6, T 6 Thermal Reported
• Comparative-longitudinal-heat flow Test # Specimen conductivity Data
method based on ASTM E1225 W/mK W/mK
R Top reference
1 Copper 398.42 390.0
Z 4  Z 3 R  T2  T1 T6  T5  2 Aluminum 169.38 167.0
S  
Z 5, T 5
. . 
Z 4, T 4
T4  T3 2  Z 2  Z1 Z 6  Z 5  3 Aluminum 173.60 167.0
4 Steel 16.32 16.3
S Specimen
S  Thermal conductivity of specimen 5 CFoam 30 1.58 -
Z 3, T 3
Insulation,
R  Thermal conductivity of reference 6 CFoam 30G 20.93 21.0*
Z 2, T 2 R cardboard
WMR Foam
7 1.58 1.34*
Reference bars: (0708.MP08)
Q • Copper (390 W/mk)
Bottom reference

Z 1, T 1
• Aluminum (167 W/mk)
Al plate • Steel (16 W/mk)
Heater • Plastics/ceramics (1-2 W/mk)