Jyotsna Kiran Mathad

Carbon fiber-reinforced Polymericomposites (CFRP) are becoming most important structural materials for aircraft structures, satellites, missiles, and other aerospace applications. However, extending these materials for thermal and electronic applications is restricted by the poor thermal conductivity. In order to improve the thermal conductivity of CFRP composites, two methods were followed. In the first method, the polymer matrix was made conductive by incorporating various fillers (copper powder, carbon nanotubes and graphene ). Using these conductive matrices, CFRP composites were developed by vacuum bag molding technique. In the second approach, in addition to fillers, a continuous copper mesh was embedded for fabricating the CFRP composite. The in-plane and out- of -plane thermal conductivity of the CFRP composites was measured by hot disc. From the results obtained, it was found that the in-plane thermal conductivity of the CFRP decreased with the filler inclusion whereas the ...

Conductive composite films were prepared by dispersing in-house synthesized Polypyrrole/ Fe 3 O 4 Nanocomposite (CPNCs) particles in a polyurethane (PU) matrix. These conductive films prepared with varied CPNC loadings (0-4% by weight) were spray coated onto a polyethylene substrate. The duly dried CPNC-PU films were variously characterized by a 4 probe electrical conductivity measurement technique, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and a Universal Testing Machine (UTM). Results showed that the conductivity of the virgin PU film increased remarkably from 8.234 X 10 -13 S/cm to 7.413 X 10 0 S/cm in the 4% CPNC loaded PU composite film. FTIR analysis of the CPNC-PU films, showed a shift in the chemical peaks of the host polymer to higher wave numbers, revealing the influence of nanoparticles present in the host polymer. DSC and TGA analyses together clearly reve...