Abstract
Polymers with highly conductive fillers could possibly replace standardly used materials, such as aluminum and copper alloys, for passive cooling purposes. The main problem of the composite polymer-based heat sinks is that their high thermal conductivity is uneven. The orientation of this anisotropy is set according to the position of the highly thermally conductive filler. Its orientation is influenced by the melt flow during the polymer heat sink molding process. This article shows that change of the melt flow inside the mold cavity can improve the overall cooling efficiency of a polymer heat sink, which leads to lower temperatures on the heat source used. Two polymer heat sinks of identical geometries were produced. Their high thermal conductivity was given by the use of graphite flakes as the filler. The only difference between the heat sinks was in the position of the fan gate during their production. Different temperatures of the heat source between the two heat sinks were observed for the same measurement conditions. The measurements were conducted at Heatlab, BUT.
Highlights
Polymers 2021, 13, 1186. https://Various polymer materials have found their use where, previously, completely different materials were applied
A lot of new research has been done in the area of thermally conductive polymers [4,5,6,7,8], and one of the possible thermal management uses of these polymers could be as heat sinks for electronics cooling
Another difference of these composite materials is their high surface emissivity compared to standard aluminum and copper alloys, which leads to an increase in heat transfer via radiation
Summary
Various polymer materials have found their use where, previously, completely different materials were applied. Heat sinks made from highly thermally conductive polymer compounds could be lighter in comparison with standard heat sink materials, and they could be produced for a significantly lower cost since lower energy consumption is needed during the production process, which would lead to reduced CO2 emissions. Another difference of these composite materials is their high surface emissivity compared to standard aluminum and copper alloys, which leads to an increase in heat transfer via radiation. Though no visible change can be observed from the outside
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