“Thermally conductive plastic ”

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 ABSTRACT
 Engineering plastics are good thermal insulators. This attribute,
although beneficial in certain applications, limits the utility of
plastics in many heat generating applications (e.g. causes hot spots,
increases device temperature).
 Increasingly demand material solutions that allow increased power output
in smaller spaces
 Imparting thermal conductivity to a plastics changes the way a part
responds to heat. Thermally conductive plastics manage rather
than survive thermal energy
 Case Study- LED is the lighting solutions of the future. Current lighting
applications are designed with new LED technology. The heat management
is more crucial with respect to available space, cost and ease of
manufacturing.
 Introduction
 The thermal management with injection molded functional
parts of thermal conductive polymers is an economic
approach in creating highly innovative cooling concepts for
different products
 After several research, it has been proved the by adding thermally
conductive fillers to polymers the thermal conductivity can be
raised significantly.
 Metal or ceramic fillers such as aluminum graphite or aluminum-
and boron-nitride increase heat conductivities of plastics from
approximately 0.15-0.5 Wm-1K-1 up to 20 Wm-1K-1 by using 60
vol.-% filler content
 Thermal conductivity in a plastic provides the ability to meet
demanding engineering requirements in many applications more
cost effectively than other materials including metals, ceramics, and
other plastics.
 Thermally conductive plastics
When are they of use?

 Plastics are thermal insulators with typical conductivities0.2 W/mK

 This low value is due to:

• Random orientation of polymer chain segments
• Weak coupling between polymer chains
• Vibrations only transmit efficiently along a chain contour

• Measuring the thermal conductivity

• If we measure the thermal conductivity of ropes, i.e., Molecular aligned
Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene, 45W/mK [1D] is obtained.
 Continue
In metals and crystalline ceramics, vibrations can transmit efficiently in
2D or 3D
Therefore, Metals, ceramics have TC values
Kmetal = 100+ W/mK
K cera = 1-100 W/mK
We rely on fillers to make TC-plastics.
 Continue
 The compound thermal conductivity is described fairly accurately by the
HalpinTsai equation with Lewis-Nielsen correction [Ind.eng.chem.,
Fundam., 13(1) (1974), 17-20]
Filler Aspect ratio
 Target application: LED lamp holder
LED enemy #1 is heat. Heat reduces LED lifetime and light output, it
needs thermal management
Target application: LED lamp holder
Target application: LED lamp holder
 Thermal Measurements
Proof of priciple
• In order to determine the effect of different heat conductivities K, four
different materials are compared in the same setup.
The materials are:
Alu = 160 W/m.K
Plastic 1 = 12 W/m.K
Plastic 2 = 4 W/m.K
Plastic 3 = 0.4 W/m.K
• All materials were sampled in plates 80 x 80 x 2 mm and mounted with a
1 W led on a mcpcb as heat source. The temperature of the led and the
temperature of a point on the substrate at a distance 15 mm from the led
were measured.
• In order to assure a good thermal contact between the mcpcb and the
four different substrates a heat conductive paste was applied.
• The substrates could dissipate the heat free to the air by natural
convection
Result summary

K W/m/K T Led T Max

Mat.
Alu 160 47 42

Plastic1 12 54 39

Plastic2 4 72 42

Plastic 3 0.4 95 41
 Advantages
 METAL REPLACEMEN
 Weight Reduction
 Avoid Metal Manufacture and Machining
 Inherent Corrosion Resistance
 Part Consolidation Opportunities

 ELECTRICAL MANAGEMENT
 Improve Safety
 Increase Reliability
 Reduce Amplification of Electrical Interference

 THERMAL MANAGEMENT
 Extend Part and Component Life (reduced device temperature)
 Enable Flexibility in Material Choice
 Efficient Heating and Cooling
 Eliminate Need for Active Cooling

 DESIGN FLEXIBILITY AND EFFICIENCY

 High Throughput Injection Molding
 Manufacture of Complex Shapes and Geometries
 Rapid Prototyping and Evaluation
 Dis-advantages
• Material availability
 Conclusion
• The effect of different heat conductivities is demonstrated.
• Heat conductivities in the range 4 - 15 W/m.K can be sufficient to
design for thermal management.
• Heat conductivities over 20 W/m.K have no significant contribution
in boosting the heat management.