Thermally conductive h-BN/EP composites oriented by AC electric field induction

Abstract

The excellent electrical insulation properties and mechanical properties of epoxy resin (EP) have led to its rapid development in the field of microelectronic packaging. However, the poor thermal conductivity of epoxy resins (thermal conductivity of only 0.14 W/(m·K)) limits the development of components for high power. Adding h-BN to epoxy resin to prepare composites can effectively improve the thermal conductivity of epoxy resin. In this paper, h-BN/EP high thermal conductivity composites were prepared by means of AC electric field induction with the goal of making the composites low loading and high thermal conductivity (loading of 10 wt%). It was shown that the h-BN/EP composite had the highest thermal conductivity of 0.310 W/(m·K) when applied to an AC electric field of 120 V/mm and 50 Hz for 1 h. It was 2.214 times higher than that of EP and 1.325 times higher than that of the same-loaded h-BN/EP composite (0.234 W/(m·K)). A thermal conductivity model that can predict the thermal conductivity of composites prepared using the same type of method is also developed, which extends the applicability of the thermal conductivity model. The prepared composites have good thermal management capability. The method is easy to be engineered and has great potential for use in electronic packaging and even other high thermal conductivity applications.