Thermal Conductivity of Glass Dust Filled Epoxy Composite: A Numerical and Experimental Study

ABSTRACT Thermal conductivity is a key thermal property of materials that significantly impacts their ability to conduct or insulate heat. Effective thermal conductivity ( k eff ) of epoxy resin is studied in the context of glass dust incorporation in this research. To simulate the effects of varying glass dust concentrations, ranging from 0% to 20.072 vol%, on the k eff of these composite materials, three‐dimensional ellipsoid‐in‐cube lattice array models are developed using the finite element method (FEM)‐based software ANSYS 2024 R2. The simulations are conducted under two different conditions: with and without voids within the composite element by considering suitable boundary conditions. Glass dust filled epoxy composite samples are then prepared keeping the same volume fractions for validation. The k eff of these composites is then measured using the guarded heat flow method. It is found that the numerical simulation outcomes considering voids are agreeing closely against experimental k eff values with a maximum deviation of only 4.86% for maximum filler content. It is also noticed that the k eff of the epoxy composites reduced by about 36% from 0.357 to 0.229 W/m K with an increase in filler concentration up to 20.072 vol%, indicating an improvement in the thermal insulation capabilities of the composites.