Correlation Between Thermal Diffusivity and Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Soft Magnetic Particle Filled Thermoplastic Composites

Measurements of thermal diffusivity α by laser flash method (LFA) and storage modulus E^′ by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) have been performed on polypropylene-iron silicon (PP/FeSi6.8) composites with filler particle content from 10 vol.-% to 60 vol.-% at temperatures from 300 K to 415 K and 200 K to 425 K, respectively. The thermal diffusivity induces a decline with increased temperature for all examined materials. The drop in thermal diffusivity versus temperature corresponds with the filler fraction. Observing the behavior of the storage modulus of FeSi6.8 filled PP one can show that the larger the filler fraction of particles in the polymer the stronger is the decrease of storage modulus versus temperature. The inflection point of the dynamic mechanical measurement curve at about 360 K corresponds very well with starting increase of thermal conductivity. The achieved results can be explained by the relation of the velocity v of phonons and its free path length l to the thermal diffusivity α according to α = (1/3)vl (Einstein approximation). Moreover, v is correlated to the bulk modulus K (and specific density ρ) via v ≈ (K/ρ)^0.5.