Continuous Fiber Polymer Composites for Thermal Applications

This paper presents an analytical investigation into the effective thermal conductivity of 3D printed continuous fibre polymer composites (CFPCs) using rule of mixture micro-structural analysis. Two fused deposition modelling techniques were utilized using a off-the-shelf printer and a low-cost modified printer. Results demonstrate significant improvement in the effective thermal conductivity of the composite compared to the base polymer. One samples was experimentally tested to examine the veracity of the model predictions.