Abstract
In this study, we report a facile approach to fabricate epoxy composite incorporated with silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs). The thermal conductivity of epoxy/SiC NWs composites was thoroughly investigated. The thermal conductivity of epoxy/SiC NWs composites with 3.0 wt% filler reached 0.449 Wm−1 K−1, approximately a 106% enhancement as compared to neat epoxy. In contrast, the same mass fraction of silicon carbide micron particles (SiC MPs) incorporated into epoxy matrix showed less improvement on thermal conduction properties. This is attributed to the formation of effective heat conduction pathways among SiC NWs as well as a strong interaction between the nanowires and epoxy matrix. In addition, the thermal properties of epoxy/SiC NWs composites were also improved. These results demonstrate that we developed a novel approach to enhance the thermal conductivity of the polymer composites which meet the requirement for the rapid development of the electronic devices.
Highlights
The rapidly-developing electronic industry focuses on at miniaturizing and lightening of electronic equipment
The TEM image (Fig. 2c) shows an individual long and straight silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs) with smooth surface and very homogeneous diameter of SiC NWs on the copper grid, and fairly clean with very few particles attached to its surface, which is in agreement with the observation in SEM
In contrast to SiC NWs, the SEM image (Fig. 2b) of silicon carbide micron particles (SiC MPs) reveals an irregular shape with abundant corner angles and the vast majority of SiC MPs with the average size is less than 1 μm
Summary
Characterization of SiC nanowires and micron particles. Figure 2a shows the typical SEM image of the SiC NWs. The value is 0.329 Wm−1 K−1 at 3.0 wt%, lower than that of epoxy/SiC NWs composites at the same loading fraction, only enhance 51% comparing to that neat epoxy, as shown in Fig. 5b and c It could be main reasons as following: (a) the well-bridged and efficient thermal conduction network between nanowires and nanowires; (b) SiC NWs with larger aspect ratio than SiC MPs and (c) a better interaction between SiC NWs with the epoxy matrix[27]. This implies the appearance of constraints to the epoxy chain movements is due to their interactions with SiC NWs or micron particles. Materials with high thermal conductive and low TDP will meet wide-ranging application in the modern electronics industry
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