Facile Method to Fabricate Highly Thermally Conductive Graphite/PP Composite with Network Structures

Thermally conductive polymer composites have aroused significant academic and industrial interest for several decades. Herein, we report a novel fabrication method of graphite/polypropylene (PP) composites with high thermal conductivity in which graphite flakes construct a continuous thermally conductive network. The thermal conductivity coefficient of the graphite/PP composites is markedly improved to be 5.4 W/mK at a graphite loading of 21.2 vol %. Such a great improvement of the thermal conductivity is ascribed to the occurrence of orientations of crystalline graphite flakes with large particles around PP resin particles and the formation of a perfect thermally conductive network. The model of Hashin-Shtrikman (HS) is adopted to interpret the outstanding thermally conductive property of the graphite/PP composites. This work provides a guideline for the easy fabrication of thermally conductive composites with network structures.