Experimental study on thermal conductivity of polyurethane resin filled with modified nanoparticles

Abstract

One of the ways to waste energy in buildings is wasting it from the walls. For this reason, insulating materials are used to prevent the loss of energy in buildings. Typically, common insulations are high thickness and thin coatings are used less. The purpose of this research is to introduce nanocomposite thin polymer coatings and its effect on thermal conductivity. For achieving this, chemically modified nano zirconium oxide and nano aluminum oxide in three different weight percentages (1, 3, and 5%) were used in polyurethane matrix for preparing nanocomposite coatings. To study thermal conductivity, the metallic plates are coated with prepared nanocomposites and the thermal conductivity of the samples was measured. The results show that by adding zirconium oxide and aluminum oxide nanoparticles in polyurethane matrix, the thermal conductivity of coatings in all three weight percentages compared to the coating without nanoparticles, decreased. The lowest thermal conductivity was found for 5% nano aluminum oxide composition, which, compared to the conductivity of the pure polyurethane resin, has decreased about 40% that leading to a decrease in the surface heat flux.