Correlation and prediction of the thermal conductivity of amorphous polymers

A group contribution model was developed for the correlation and prediction of the thermal conductivity of glassy and liquid amorphous polymers. The model is predictive and only requires the structure of the polymers and the existing group parameters in the calculation. A total of 28 polymer systems with 700 data points were used to test the model. Its predictive accuracy is normally better than 15%. The new model is simple to apply, which is very convenient for engineering use.