Thermal characterisation of high density polyethylene with multi-walled carbon nanotube

Interest in thermally conductive polymers for usage in commercial electronics, automobile components and so on is growing rapidly nowadays. Polymer composites embedded with high thermal conductivity additives can be used for structural frames of thermal systems that need light weight and chemical inertness. In such composites, additives are usually in a form of nanoparticles such as carbon nanotube, graphene and so on. With the help of high thermal conductivity additives, the thermal conductivity of the composites can be increased up to several hundred times compared to the base polymer. In this paper, thermal characterisation of high density polyethylene added with multi-walled carbon nanotube is performed by using the differential scanning calorimetry and laser flash apparatus. Latent heat of fusion, thermal diffusivity and heat capacity are measured with samples having additive concentration from 0 to 30% (weight fraction) and for temperature range from 25 degrees C to 80 degrees C.