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Are the Carbon Fibers Used in Aircraft Like the Boeing 787 Thermally Conductive?

Design

Editor’s note: This question was asked in response to Electronics Cooling’s recent webinar by Carl Zwebin. To view the webinar, click here.

Question: Are the carbon fibers used in aircraft like the Boeing 787 thermally conductive?

Answer: There are many types of carbon fibers.  The carbon fibers used in most aircraft and other structural applications are made from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursors.  These carbon fibers have relatively low thermal conductivities.  Thermally conductive carbon fibers are made from coal tar and petroleum pitch and by a chemical vapor deposition process.

-Carl Zwebin

About the Author

Electronics Cooling

Electronics Cooling magazine has been providing a technical data column since 1997 with the intent of providing you, the readers, with pertinent material properties for use in thermal analyses. We have largely covered the most common materials and their associated thermal properties used in electronics packaging.

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