Free Arc Disperses-Sprays Carbon Nanotubes and Silicon Carbide, Preparing Thermal Silicone Grease

Abstract

Thermal conductivity grease (TSG) is an important interface material for electronic devices’ heat dissipation. A continuous free-arc dispersion-spraying method of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nanocrystalline silicon carbide (SiC) for the preparation of TSG is reported. CNTs and SiC are dispersed and mixed by a free arc and are sprayed on the silicone oil surface (carried by the conveyor belt). Then, the silicon oil is separated from the conveyor belt, and the TSG composite (TSG-E) with highly dispersed CNTs@SiC is prepared. In this work, TSG-E has a CNTs@SiC network with CNTs as the frame and SiC as the node. Compared with untreated (TSG-N), grind (TSG-G), and ultrasonic (TSG-U) dispersion methods, TSG-E has better thermal conductivity (λ) and resistivity. CNTs@SiC network of the TSG-E series affects λ, the effect follows the thermal conductivity network theory and has a sudden change (greatly decreased) from TSG-E0.2 to TSG-E0.3. Besides, the sudden change of thermal stability for the TSG-E series is consistent with the change of λ.