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As electronics get smaller and more powerful, the packaging that contains them must in turn become lighter with higher thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity. This study tested the effect of adding highly concentrated hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) fibers to liquid crystal polymer. The fibers were oriented in a way to achieve a high filler concentration, and the composites were then randomly added to a polyactide matrix. The researchers found that the filler interaction affected the thermal conductivity, and that the interaction between them could be controlled by altering the aspect ratio of the fibers. By optimizing the filler concentration, a hybrid composite was produced that had similar thermal conductivity to the pure fiber.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have extremely high thermal conductivity and can raise the thermal conductivity of a polymer matrix when used as an additive. Previous research has shown that random CNT orientation in polymer matrices gives a much lower thermal conductivity value than a specific alignment direction. This project tested the thermal conductivity of oils and polymers. Results were encouraging, with the thermal conductivity of the composites increasing linearly with the amount of CNTs added. A spontaneous alignment of the CNTs in liquid crystal polymer matrix caused a large increase in thermal diffusivity. The researchers concluded that CNTs are an effective filler for use in increasing the thermal conductivity of composites and improving their thermal performance.
This study is investigating how the thermal conductivity of a PMMA polymer filled with multi walled carbon nano tubes (MWNT) changes with temperature, and wt % MWNT. Also, the series, parallel, Lewis/Neilson and empirical formula models were used to quantify how well the measured values correlate with the calculated values. The thermal conductivity was measured with a transient plane source (TPS) method. The thermal conductivity of the polymer increased with MWNT wt%, and it also increased with temperature. At high wt% MWNT there was an exponential increase in thermal conductivity with temperature. The measured values correlated very well with the stated models.
The goal of this study was to determine how adding CdS nanoparticles to two polymer blends (PS/PVC and PS/PMMA) affects their thermal conductivities. Also, the effect of increasing the wt% of both PVC and PMMA in their respective blends was investigated. The thermal conductivity of the samples was determined through a transient plane method. The thermal conductivity of both polymer blends increased with the addition of CdS nanoparticles. When the wt% of PVC was increased in the PS/PVC blend, the thermal conductivity decreased. When the wt% of PMMA was increased in the PS/PMMA blend, the thermal conductivity increased.
The aim of this study was to fabricate transparent polymers with high thermal conductivities for applications in electronic packaging. Characteristics of the inorganic filler, calcium fluoride (CaF2), and the polymer matrix were examined, and thermal conductivity was measured using a thermal analyzer based on the transient plane source (TPS) method. Results showed that the thermal conductivity of the composites increased with CaF2 content. This study was the first to report such large thermal conductivity enhancements in highly transparent polymers.
