作者：Shengyuan Gao, Hua Guo, Yongqiang Guo*, Hua Qiu, Wei Gong* and Junwei Gu*
关键字：epoxy resin, carbon fiber, spherical thermally reduced graphene, through-plane thermal conductivity
论文来源：期刊
发表时间：2026年

Shengyuan Gao, Hua Guo, Yongqiang Guo*, Hua Qiu, Wei Gong* and Junwei Gu*. Superior through-plane thermal conductivity in carbon fibers/spherical graphene/epoxy laminated composites for low-altitude aircrafts. InfoMat, 2026, e70139. DOI: 10.1002/inf2.70139. 2024IF=22.3.（1区材料科学Top期刊）

http://doi.org/10.1002/inf2.70139

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the low-altitude economy has driven growing demand for carbon fiber/epoxy composites in applications including unmanned aerial vehicles and electric vertical take-off and landing aircrafts. However, the characteristically low through-plane thermal conductivity (λ_⊥) of these composites poses a critical thermal conduction limitation, which adversely affects the performance and reliability of onboard electronic systems. In this work, we present an architectural design to improve the λ_⊥ of mesophase pitch-based carbon fiber (MPCF)/epoxy composites by incorporating precisely engineered spherical thermally reduced graphene (s-TRG) as a bridging filler. At loading of 10 wt% s-TRG and 60 wt% MPCF, the MPCF/s-TRG/epoxy composite achieves a λ_⊥ of 2.73 W/(m·K), representing a 173.0% improvement over the MPCF/epoxy composite (1.00 W/(m·K)) and about 1.71 times the λ_⊥ of its conventional TRG-filled analogue (1.60 W/(m·K)). Monte Carlo simulations reveal that the enhancement originates from the isotropic spherical architecture of s-TRG, which facilitates efficient multi-point bridging within the three-dimensional interlaminar space, thereby overcoming the limited through-plane contact characteristic of planar graphene sheets. This work not only provides an efficient filler structural design strategy for thermal enhancement but also suggests a feasible route toward managing heat in high power density electronics for next-generation lightweight low-altitude aircraft.

随着低空经济加速崛起，无人机、eVTOL（电动垂直起降飞行器）等对碳纤维/环氧树脂复合材料的需求持续攀升。但碳纤维/环氧树脂复合材料面间导热性能不足的瓶颈难题，已成为制约其电子设备系统性能与可靠性的关键因素。本文以“静电喷雾-高温煅烧”法制备的球形热还原氧化石墨烯（s-TRG）为导热填料，提升中间相沥青基碳纤维（MPCF）/环氧树脂复合材料的面间导热性能。当s-TRG和MPCF的质量分数分别为10 wt%和60 wt%时，MPCF/s-TRG/环氧树脂复合材料的面间导热系数（λ_⊥）为2.73 W/(m·K)，较MPCF/环氧树脂的λ_⊥（1.00 W/(m·K)）提高了173.0%，约为添加同等用量热还原氧化石墨烯（TRG）的MPCF/TRG/环氧树脂复合材料λ_⊥（1.60 W/(m·K)）的1.71倍。利用蒙特卡洛算法揭示了MPCF/s-TRG/环氧树脂复合材料面间高导热的根本原因在于s-TRG各向同性的球形结构能够在层间实现三维空间内的多点高效搭接，克服了片状石墨烯在面间方向的搭接限制。本研究不仅为复合材料的面间导热增强提供了一种高效的填料结构设计策略，更为高功率密度电子设备在下一代轻量化低空飞行器中的热管理应用开辟了可行路径。