Nov 28 2008
Dr. Koji Watari and Dr. Kimiyasu Sato of the Advanced Sintering Technology Group, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have discovered the conditions for uniform dispersion of boron nitride (BN) filler in organic solvents and plastics. These conditions facilitated the fabrication of a composite material of filler (dispersed particles) and plastic, and a high-thermal-conductivity composite plastic film containing dispersed inorganic particles was successfully prepared.
Today's smaller, more powerful electronic devices, communications equipment, and lighting apparatus require optimum solutions for heat dissipation, prompting the development of plastic materials with high heat dissipation effect. The thermal conductivity of plastics has generally been enhanced by adding powder fillers such as inorganic oxides. Inorganic nitrides have higher thermal conductivity than oxides and could potentially improve the heat dissipation effect; however, it has been very difficult to achieve uniform dispersion of nitride fillers in plastics. In this research, the use of BN filler having many functional groups on its surface and high compatibility with organic solvents and plastics made it easy to disperse the filler in polymer (plastic) varnish and improve the thermal conductivity of a inorganic particle dispersed plastic composite film.
The results will be presented at a workshop hosted by the Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute of AIST, under the title "Latest trends and research and development in engineering plastic materials – hybridization with inorganic materials," to be held on October 31, 2008 in Tokyo.