INTERVIEW | THERMALLY CONDUCTIVE
ment and that is also for those devices where such a need was not a priority a few years ago. So, the answer is yes, for sure, although I cannot say that for Lati this is the most important market for conductive plastics. In my opinion, the most important driving forces today are related to power saving and management, energy production and storage, e-mobility and alternative energies.
CW: Thermal conductivity of metals is typically 100 W/m·K or higher, far more than can be achieved with thermally conductive plastics. How much thermal conductivity is actually needed to create a functioning thermoplastic system? Posca: Years of Lati experience taught us that conductivity requirements are strictly related to boundary conditions of working devices. To give you an idea, a conductivity of 1-5 W/m·K can be enough for many applications where no huge quantities of heat must be disposed: battery charging in e-mobility, for example. On the contrary, if you must manage temperature in a high-power led lamp, you’ll need much higher conductivity, more than 10 W/m·K at least – de- pending on power density. So I would put the
sentence in this way: a thermal conductivity of 10 W/m·K (isotropic or though plane) may be enough for most applications where natural convection and radiation are the main thermal phenomena. Lower values may work well in many situations, high values may be necessary only in case of forced convection (fan cooled apps). For sure, comparing conductivity values of plastics vs. metals can be very misleading.
CW: Have you improved or expanded the Laticon- ther MI series of PA-based materials that contain conductive fillers? Posca: The MI series was born to provide extra structural performance to average conductive compounds (for example low graphite per cent plus glass fibre) or to add a bit of conductivity to glass reinforced engineering plastics. The main target is automotive applications. For the moment this series of compounds is on hold as we’re working on the new CP6 and CP8 grades involving high temperature base resins such as PA9T. Lati developed Laticonther CP6 and CP8 special compounds specifically for E&E automotive applications.
Above: Lati’s Luca Posca says the company aims to offer ‘cutting edge’ thermally conductive solutions
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IMAGE: LATI
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