Enhanced thermal conductivity of fluorinated epoxy resins by incorporating inorganic filler

Abstract

Electronic and circuit components become smaller but easier to produce heat nowadays. Finding a kind of materials with high thermal conductivity to dissipate the heat is greatly needed. In this work, a fluorinated epoxy monomer, 3-trifluoromethyl phenylhydroquinone epoxy resin (3-TFMEP) with good mobility was synthesized. The fluorinated epoxy resins also show low dielectric constant and hydrophobic nature. Then a kind of inorganic filler, boron nitride (BN), with high thermal conductivity was chosen to make the hybrid resin mixture. The epoxy resins' mixture both showed the advantages of simple epoxy resins and considerable thermal conductivity. The good mobility of 3-TEMEP allows a larger addition of filler BN by the maximum mass fraction at 70 wt% in the epoxy resin, thus enhancing the thermal conductivity of 3-TEMEP up to 1.2 W/mK, which is about 10 time higher than the pristine 3-TFMEP epoxy resin. These properties ensure these fluorinated hybrid epoxy resins to have great potential in the application of thermal transfer in the area of electronic and circuit components.