Highly Thermal Conductive and Electrical Insulating Epoxy Composites with a Three-Dimensional Filler Network by Sintering Silver Nanowires on Aluminum Nitride Surface

Abstract

In this study, a new fabrication technique for three-dimensional (3D) filler networks was employed for the first time to prepare thermally conductive composites. A silver nanowire (AgNW)– aluminum nitride (AlN) (AA) filler was produced by a polyol method and hot-pressed in mold to connect the adjacent fillers by sintering AgNWs on the AlN surface. The sintered AA filler formed a 3D network, which was subsequently impregnated with epoxy (EP) resin. The fabricated EP/AA 3D network composite exhibited a perpendicular direction thermal conductivity of 4.49 W m−1 K−1 at a filler content of 400 mg (49.86 vol.%) representing an enhancement of 1973% with respect to the thermal conductivity of neat EP (0.22 W m−1 K−1). Moreover, the EP/AA decreased the operating temperature of the central processing unit (CPU) from 86.2 to 64.6 °C as a thermal interface material (TIM). The thermal stability was enhanced by 27.28% (99 °C) and the composites showed insulating after EP infiltration owing to the good insulation properties of AlN and EP. Therefore, these fascinating thermal and insulating performances have a great potential for next generation heat management application.

The effect of hybrid thermal fillers on thermal conductivity of carbon fiber reinforced polybutylene terephthalate composites

“…Highly thermally conductive materials, including ceramic fillers such as boron nitride (hBN) 30 and aluminium nitride (AlN), 31 carbon-based G and carbon nanotubes, 32 and silver nanowires 33 and copper (Cu), 34 are integrated into polymer materials to increase their thermal conductivity. 35 Ng et al (2005) prepared hBN-and CF-reinforced PBT composites using a twin-screw extruder to achieve a desirable thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity. 36 They demonstrated that the combination of hBN and CF in PBT can significantly reduce the electrical conductivity of the composites compared to that of PBT/CF composites.…”

Silver Nanowire Networks Coated with a Few Nanometer Thick Aluminum Nitride Films for Ultra-Transparent and Robust Heating Applications

“…In addition, it is self-protecting in oxidizing environments because it shows a low oxidation rate even at high temperatures of up to 1100 °C (thanks to the formation of a passivating Al 2 O 3 layer). Thus, it has a broad range of applications in micro- and nanoscale optoelectronic devices, including dielectric and passivation layers, but also electrothermal film heaters. − Finally, AlN has a wide band gap, potentially leading to transparency even in the UV region, which makes it very promising for applications such as transparent heaters or electrodes for windows and UV applications. Moreover, metal nitrides can be easily deposited in a very conformal way, with a highly precise control of the thickness, and at low temperatures via atomic layer deposition (ALD), including the more recent atmospheric-pressure spatial ALD (AP-SALD) approach that is faster and more suitable for low-cost mass production. , …”

Thermally conductive and compliant polyurethane elastomer composites by constructing a tri-branched polymer network

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] In particular, thermal interface materials (TIMs) were applied between chips and heat sink to fill the void and remove the heat effectively. [7][8][9] In general, TIMs were formed by filling high thermal conductivity fillers, such as metal fillers, carbon materials and inorganic thermal conductive materials, [10][11][12][13][14] into a polymer matrix.…”