Synergistic Enhanced Thermal Conductivity and Crack Resistance of Reactor Epoxy Insulation with Boron Nitride Nanosheets and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

Epoxy composites with high thermal conductivity, excellent dielectric, and mechanical properties are very promising for solving epoxy cracking faults in reactors and for extending their service life. In this work, we report on epoxy composites enhanced by ternary fillers of boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and silica (SiO2) nanoparticles. The obtained BNNSs/MWCNTs/SiO2/epoxy composites exhibit a high thermal conductivity of 0.9327 W m−1 K−1, which is more than 4-fold higher than that of pure epoxy. In addition, the resultant composites present an improved mechanical strength (from 2.7% of epoxy to 3.47% of composites), low dielectric constant (4.6), and low dielectric loss (0.02). It is believed that the integration of multifunctional properties into epoxy composites provides guidance for optimizing the design of high-performance materials.

Keywords

• epoxy
• boron nitride nanosheets
• carbon nanotubes
• thermal conductivity
• epoxy crack