In the present investigation the Thermal conductivity in particulate filler
filled (Pine wood dust) epoxy composites at different volume fractions (6.5%,
11.3%,26.8% and 35.9%) have been determined experimentally by using Forced
Convection apparatus. The composites of pine wood dust particles of 150
micron size have been prepared by using hand-lay-up technique. The
experimental results show that the incorporation of pine wood dust results in
reduction of thermal conductivity of epoxy resin and there by improves its
thermal insulation capability. From the experiments it is also observed that
the composite with 35.9% volume fraction of pine wood dust exhibited lowest
thermal conductivity i.e 0.246 W/m-0K on comparison to 6.5%,11.3% and26.8%
volume fractions. Therefore the composite with 35.9% wood dust may be more
suitable for insulation application. Experimental results (22mm pipe
diameter) are also compared with theoretical models such as Rule of mixture
model, Maxwell model, Russell model and Baschirow & Selenew model to describe
the variation of thermal conductivity versus the volume fraction of the
filler. All these models exhibited results close to each other at low dust
filler content. On comparison, It has been found that the errors associated
with experimental (26mm Dia.) along with all the above four models with
respect to experimental ones (22mm Dia.) lie in the range of 19.60 to 44.10%,
0.76 to 12.10%, 1.86 to 5.12% and 8.24 to 19.68% respectively.
Measurement on Thermal Conductivity of Pine Wood Dust Filled Epoxy Composites
