INVESTIGATION OF THE HARDNESS AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COEFFICIENTS OF NANOCOMPOSITES PRODUCED BY ADDING DIFFERENT RATIOS OF FILLERS TO EPOXY COMPOSITE

Many fields, including aviation, automotive, construction, and the weapons industry, widely use composite materials. In recent years, nanoparticle (NP) additions have been made to improve both the mechanical and thermal properties of composite materials. In this study, the thermal conductivity coefficient k (W/m K) values and hardness values of nanoparticle-epoxy composite materials prepared by adding carbon black, bismuth oxide NP, cerium oxide NP, nickel oxide NP, and strontium oxide NP into epoxy resin at weight percentages of 0.3 wt.%, 0.6 wt.%, and 1 wt.% were measured and compared with a pure (control) sample. The results of the study showed that some of the composite materials produced by adding to the epoxy resin exhibited improvements in thermal conductivity and hardness values, while others yielded poorer results compared to the control sample. Among all the samples, while a 29.72% decrease was measured in the thermal diffusivity value of the sample with 1% strontium compared to the pure sample, a 246.75% increase was measured in the sample with 0.6% nickel. Additionally, among all the samples, a 56.38% increase in thermal conductivity values was measured in the 1% strontium-doped sample compared to the pure sample, while a 69.91% decrease was measured in the 1% nickel-doped sample. In terms of hardness values, when compared to the pure sample, the highest value was observed in the sample with 1% carbon black, at 34.79%, while the lowest value was in the sample with 0.3% strontium, at 8.55%.