THERMALLY CONDUCTIVE | ADDITIVES Working to manage heat
The increasing penetration of electronic devices, together with growth in electric vehicle production, presents opportunities for thermally conductive
polymers.Peter Mapleston reports
The need for thermally conductive plastics com- pounds continues to grow, thanks largely to the rise of new technologies in areas such as lighting (LEDs) and electric vehicles (EVs). As electronic devices get smaller, the need to keep the sensitive electronic components within them cool increases. Thermal management is also expected to play a key role in improving the efficiency and safety of large battery packs used in EVs. There are a broad range of additives available to enhance the thermal conductivity of plastics, both thermoplastics and thermosets. However, suppliers and specialist compounders uniformly emphasise the importance of collaboration along the supply chain to make the most of them in what is often considered a disruptive technology area where expert knowledge is often at a premium. The use of lightweight, polymer-based thermal management systems has attracted much interest, even while most polymers possess low thermal conductivity, simply because of the other inherent
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advantages of plastics (mechanical performance, design flexibility and so on). Traditionally, thermal conductivity is increased by incorporation of high levels of thermally conductive fillers, but there is an obvious trade-off — the fillers increase the density of compounds and they make them more difficult to process. They may also reduce recyclability. Masterbatch maker Colloids believes it has an answer to this challenge in its Graphanced product range, a family of masterbatch products that contain graphene (carbon in two-dimensional form just one atom thick). Graphene is 200 times stronger than steel (130GPa) and is both stiff and elastic. Most importantly for thermally conductive applications, it is also extremely conductive. Graphene conducts heat better than metals such as copper and silver. Colloids has been working with the University of Manchester in the UK, where graphene was pioneered, for more than seven years on graphene research and on development of graphene-con-
Main image: The prolifera- tion of ‘smart’ devices presents opportunities for plastics that can integrate thermal
management capabilities
August 2022 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 45
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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