Using Taguchi Experimental Design to Calculate and Analyze Thermal Conductivity for (Polyacrylamide – Kaolin) Composite

Abstract

The research is interested in studying the thermal property of the composite material because of its importance in the thermal uses of composite materials. The composite material was prepared with different amounts of kaolin (0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.8 g) in (polyacrylamide -kaolin) composite. Its thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity were studied. Taguchi Array L25(5^2), factors 2, Runs 25, columns 25(5^6) Array 12, was used as an experimental design and 25 samples were prepared using this array. The results improved that the thermal conductivity of the composite material decreases with a high kaolin amount toward temperature increase. Moreover, a case with the composite material's specific heat capacity. The current research describes using Taguchi experimental design to select the optimal factor level from the process to get a maximum thermal conductivity of composite material. The basis for choosing the orthogonal matrix is to take each of the different quantities of kaolin (0,0.2, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.8g) at different temperatures. Taguchi program is applied to the combination of factors and their levels. Besides, the output parameter representing thermal conductivity of (polyacrylamide – kaolin) composite with repetition to the given input parameters using smaller the better. The test results show the factor that influences the amount of kaolin (0.2g), and temperature(70°C). By using the factor and its level, thermal conductivity is (0.428 w· m-1· °C-1).