Efficient Thermal Transport Highway Construction Within Epoxy Matrix via Hybrid Carbon Fibers and Alumina Particles

Hao Wang; Linhong Li; Yapeng Chen; Meng Li; Hui Fu; Xiao Hou; Xinfeng Wu; Cheng-Te Lin; Nan Jiang; Jinhong Yu

doi:10.1021/acsomega.9b03465

Efficient Thermal Transport Highway Construction Within Epoxy Matrix via Hybrid Carbon Fibers and Alumina Particles

ACS Omega. 2020 Jan 9;5(2):1170-1177. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b03465. eCollection 2020 Jan 21.

Authors

Hao Wang^{1

2}, Linhong Li^{2

3}, Yapeng Chen^{2

3}, Meng Li², Hui Fu², Xiao Hou², Xinfeng Wu⁴, Cheng-Te Lin^{2

3}, Nan Jiang^{2

3}, Jinhong Yu^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215123, China.
² Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Related Technologies, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Protective Technologies, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
³ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴ College of Ocean Science and Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China.

Abstract

Polymer composites with excellent thermal conductivity and superior mechanical strength are in high demand in the electrical engineering systems. However, achieving superior thermal conductivity and mechanical properties simultaneously at high loading of fillers will still be a challenging issue. In this work, a facile method was proposed to prepare the epoxy composite with carbon fibers (CFs) and alumina (Al₂O₃). This CF and Al₂O₃ hybrid structure can effectively reduce the interfacial thermal resistance between the matrix and the CFs. The thermal conductivity of epoxy composite with 6.4 wt % CFs and 74 wt % Al₂O₃ hybrid filler reaches 3.84 W/(m K), which is increasing by 2096% compared with that of pure epoxy. Meanwhile, the epoxy composite still retains outstanding thermal stability and mechanical performance at high filler loading. A cost-effective avenue to prepare highly thermally conductive and superior mechanical properties of polymer-based composites may enable some prospective application in advanced thermal management.