Matching thermal expansion of mica–polymer nanocomposites and metals

Finite element numerical simulations have been carried out to demonstrate that by the dispersing of a small amount of exfoliated muscovite mica platelets in a solid polymer one can considerably reduce and even match the thermal expansion coefficients of metal and polymer components of hybrid polymer–metal structures. In practice, such mismatch reduction may lead to the extension of the service life of hybrid polymer–metal structures. Computer models comprised of a random dispersion of fully aligned round muscovite mica platelets have been studied. It was found that the decrease of the thermal expansion for such nanocomposites is controlled by the product of the aspect ratio and the volume fraction of the mineral platelets, and that the dependence can be accurately described by a stretched exponential master curve, thus considerably facilitating the task of designing mica–polymer nanocomposites with tailored thermal expansion.