Thermal Conductivity of Melt for a given material is a measure of the material's ability to conduct heat. Most polymers have a relatively low value for this property, but the value can be impacted by additives and fillers. Higher thermal conductivity values reduce part cooling time. The range of values typically varies between 0.1 and 1 Watt/m°C for most raw polymers. (Values can be higher for materials with thermally conductive additives, but these are not considered here.) Thermal Conductivity of Melt typically increases with the proportion of glass fiber content.
Sensitivity | Availability | Datasheet Category | Cool Time Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
High | Medium | Thermal Properties | Inverse Variation |
Thermal Conductivity of Melt is typically provided under the Thermal Properties category in the material specification. Thermal conductivities for a variety materials can be found here: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Factors-affecting-carbon-nanotube-fillers-towards-A-Namasivayam-Shapter/014392f704f49fb2d49e2688e355a9fdde8c7569/figure/1 (Note that URLs may change.)
Estimating Thermal Conductivity of Melt
If you want to add a new material to your Digital Factory, and you cannot obtain Thermal Conductivity of Melt from a material’s specification, you may be able to estimate the value based on Thermal Conductivity of Melt for a similar base polymer. The following considerations may help you formulate your estimate:
- Thermal Conductivity of Melt increases by 1-2% for each percentage of glass fill in the material.
- Commodity polymers tend to have lower values (<0.2) whereas engineering and high-performance polymers tend to have higher values (>0.2). (For information on which materials are commodity, engineering, or high-performance polymers, see https://www.iapd.org/Documents/Members%20Only/iapd_rectangle.pdf Note that URLs may change.)