The influence of chirality on the thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWNTs） is discussed in this paper, using a non-equilibrium molecular dynamics （NEMD） method. The tube lengths of the SWNTs studied here are 20, 50, and 100 nm, respectively, and at each length the relationship between chiral angle and thermal conductivity of a SWNT is revealed. We find that if the tube length is relatively short, the influence of chirality on the thermal conductivity of a SWNT is more obvious and that a SWNT with a larger chiral angle has a greater thermal conductivity. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of a zigzag SWNT is smaller than that of an armchair one. As the tube length becomes longer, the thermal conductivity increases while the influence of chirality on the thermal conductivity decreases.
To improve the thermal conductivity of polymeric composites, the numerous interfacial thermal resistance （ITR） inside is usually considered as a bottle neck, but the direct measurement of the ITR is hardly reported. In this paper, a sandwich structure which consists of transducer/high density polyethylene （HDPE）/sapphire is prepared to study the interface characteristics. Then, the ITRs between HDPE and sapphire of two samples with different HDPE thickness values are measured by time-domain thermoreflectance （TDTR） method and the results are -- 2 × 10-7 m2.K.W-1. Furthermore, a model is used to evaluate the importance of ITR for the thermal conductivity of composites. The model＇s analysis indicates that reducing the ITR is an effective way of improving the thermal conductivity of composites. These results will provide valuable guidance for the design and manufacture of polymer-based thermally conductive materials.
