INTERVIEW | THERMALLY CONDUCTIVE
Committed to thermally conductive compounds
Technical compounder Lati has around two decades of experience in thermally conductive compounds. Mikell Knights speaks to Luca Posca to find out more about the company’s journey
With a production capacity of 40,000 tonnes and sales last year of €170m, privately-owned Italian compounder Lati is a significant player in the engineered plastic materials sector, a position earned, at least in part, through its ability to identify new opportunities, to develop new materials that meet the challenging performance requirements they call for, then supporting customers in design- ing innovative new products to exploit those compound innovations. Thermally conductive compounds are one example: identified as a strategic development area for the business since 2003, it has built a strong position in polymer heat sinks for applications such as lighting. In this article the company’s Group Technical Assistance and Marketing Director Luca Posca talks to Compounding World contributing Editor Mikell Knights and provides some insight into the market for thermally conductive compounds and the company’s strategy for future growth in it.
CW: Can you provide an update on markets for conductive compounds and the level of interest in markets such as smart technologies (consumer or industrial products), LED lighting, e-mobility and EMI shielding? Posca: We started working on thermally conduc- tive plastics in 2003 following the first signals of the newborn LED lighting technology. For quite a few years LED (PCB, strip LEDs and then high-power COB LEDs) have been leading the way for light and efficient plastic heat sinks.
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IMAGE: WHITCROFT LIGHTING/ PROTOOL PLASTICS GROUP
Today we’re committed in following a new wave
of interest for this solution in e-mobility and other sectors, for example railway and automotive sensors, thanks not only to the performance versus weight versus price ratio, but also because of the intrinsic lower carbon footprint of conductive plastics in comparison to traditional materials and die cast aluminum. Thermally conductive plastics today must meet other requirements to face new challenges: EMI shielding, flame resistance, structural performance. This is the “cutting edge” that Lati is developing to improve its offer in specific industrial sectors.
CW: Are trends such as digitalisation or miniaturisa- tion driving interest in these markets? What are the primary market drivers today for your conductive products? Posca: Digitalisation and miniaturisation are major trends in almost any application sector. Miniaturisa- tion means heat buildup and temperature manage-
Main image: Lati, together with injection moulding partner The Protool Plastics Group, helped UK-based Whitcroft Lighting to switch from aluminium to polymer-based heat sinks in its latest Mirage 3 family of luminaires
September 2023 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 27
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