Thermal property improvement of polytetrafluoroethylene nanocomposites with graphene nanoplatelets

Abstract

Thermal properties including the crystallization behavior, thermal stability and thermal conductivity for a series of graphene nanoplatelet (GNP)–polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) nanocomposites were studied. The GNP–PTFE nanocomposites were fabricated via solvent-assisted blending followed by cold-pressing and sintering. The results indicated that the GNP–PTFE nanocomposites retained the good thermal stability of the PTFE matrix, and possessed better crystallization and much higher thermal conductivity than pure PTFE. The thermal conductivity of PTFE nanocomposites with a GNP mass fraction of 20% could reach 4.02 W (m K)⁻¹, which was increased by 1300% compared with pure PTFE. Additionally, a theoretical model was proposed to analyze the thermal conductivity of GNP–PTFE nanocomposites. It is demonstrated that adding GNPs into PTFE homogeneously can effectively improve the thermal properties of the nanocomposites.