The synergistic effect between different fillers plays a crucial role in determining the performance of composites. In this work, spherical boron nitride (BN) and flaky BN are used as hybrid fillers to improve the thermal conductivity (TC) of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) composites. A series of HDPE composites were prepared by adjusting the mass ratio (1:0, 4:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, and 0:1) of spherical BN and flaky BN. The SEM results indicate that the spherical BN (with a particle size of 3 μm) effectively filled the gaps between the flaky BN (with a particle size of 30 μm), leading to the formation of more continuous heat conduction paths with the composite. Remarkably, when the mass ratio of spherical BN to flaky BN was set to 1:4 (with a total BN filling amount of 30 wt%), the TC of the composite could reach up to 1.648 Wm-1K-1, which is obviously higher than that of the composite containing a single filler, realizing the synergistic effect of the hybrid fillers. In addition, the synergistic effect of fillers also affects the thermal stability and crystallization behavior of composites. This work is of great significance for optimizing the application of hybrid BN fillers in the field of thermal management.
Keywords: boron nitride; crystallinity; electron microscopy; high-density polyethylene; hybrid fillers; synergistic effect; thermal conductivity.