Graphene in Aerospace Composites: Characterising Thermal Response

In this work, a numerical model is presented to describe the thermal response of a graphene/polymer nanocomposite. The approach is based on the multi-scale method and consists of a unit cell and a Representative Volume Element (RVE) built on a finite element interface. At the unit cell level, the material’s nano-characteristics (filler geometry, phase thermal properties, interfacial properties) are employed to calculate the local thermal conductivity. The material’s architecture is modelled at the RVE level by incorporating the previously obtained local thermal properties. A statistical sample was studied and the average thermal response was compared to experimental data.