Thermal Properties and Microstructural Assessment of Glass Composites with Epoxy Matrix for Cryogenic Applications

Abstract Thermal properties of materials, especially their thermal conductivity and emissivity, are extremely important in the efficient design of terrestrial cryogenic equipment, such as Dewars and cryostats. It is widely known that composite materials based on epoxy resin and glass reinforcement are good candidates for applications in extreme temperature conditions due to their high stiffness together with low thermal conductivity. The aim of the work is to investigate the effect of several resin matrixes on thermal conductivity in the range from 5 K to 300 K and on total hemispherical emissivity. Additionally, as part of this study, an analysis of the microstructure of composite materials was conducted to detect changes in the structure caused by low temperatures.