Abstract
With the rapid development of the electronics, communication, and energy industries, there is an increasing demand for flexible materials with high thermal conductivity and electrical insulation properties. Silicone rubber (SR) is widely used in various fields due to its excellent mechanical properties. However, its intrinsic low thermal conductivity requires the addition of thermally conductive fillers to enhance its thermal conductivity. Insulating thermally conductive composites are prepared by adding thermally conductive fillers such as boron nitride (BN) and graphite into a silicone rubber matrix. When BN is added as a single filler up to 20 wt%, the thermal conductivity of BN/SR reaches 0.526 W m−1 K−1, which is a 126% improvement compared to the SR matrix. When the total filler content is 20 wt%, and the ratio of BN to graphite is 1:1, the thermal conductivity of BN/graphite/SR composite is 0.685 W m−1 K−1. This represents a 194% and 30% increase in thermal conductivity compared to the SR matrix and BN/SR composite with the same filler content, respectively. On the cured silicone rubber substrate, the incremental cured BN/SR acts as an insulation coating. This allows for a significant reduction in the electrical conductivity of the composite without the use of adhesives, while preserving the thermal conductivity. Moreover, the interface formed through incremental curing retains high tensile and compressive strength.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data and code availability statement
The date that supports the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The date is not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
References
Li Y, Liu W, Shen F, Zhang G, Gong L, Zhao L, Song P, Gao J, Tang L (2022) Processing, thermal conductivity and flame-retardant properties of silicone rubber filled with different geometries of thermally conductive fillers: a comparative study. Compos Part B 238:109907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2022.109907
Hu X, Huang M, Kong N, Han F, Tan R, Huang Q (2021) Enhancing the electrical insulation of highly thermally conductive carbon fiber powders by SiC ceramic coating for efficient thermal interface materials. Compos Part B 227:109398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2021.109398
Wen Y, Xue Y, Li X, Pei H, Zhou X, Feng Y, Ye Y, Xie X, Mai Y (2020) In-situ shear exfoliation and thermal conductivity of SBS/Graphite nanoplatelet nanocomposites. Compos Part B 197:108172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2020.108172
Gu J, Yang X, Lv Z, Li N, Liang B, Zhang Q (2016) Functionalized graphite nanoplatelets/epoxy resin nanocomposites with high thermal conductivity. Int J Heat Mass Transf 92:15–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2015.08.081
Chen H, Ginzburg VV, Yang J, Yang Y, Liu W, Huang Y, Du L, Chen B (2016) Thermal conductivity of polymer-based composites: fundamentals and Applications. Prog Polym Sci 59:41–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2016.03.001
Burger N, Laachachi A, Ferriol M, Lutz M, Toniazzo V, Ruch D (2016) Review of thermal conductivity in composites: mechanisms, parameters and theory. Prog Polym Sci 61:1–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2016.05.001
Ruan K, Shi X, Guo Y, Gu J (2020) Interfacial thermal resistance in thermally conductive polymer composites: a review. Compos Commun 22:100518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coco.2020.100518
Zhang F, Feng Y, Feng W (2020) Three-dimensional interconnected networks for thermally conductive polymer composites: design, preparation, properties, and mechanisms. Mater Sci Engineering: R: Rep 142:100580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mser.2020.100580
Mu Q, Feng S, Diao G (2007) Thermal conductivity of Silicone Rubber filled with ZnO. Polym Compos 28:125–130. https://doi.org/10.1002/pc.20276
Sheng M, Yang R, Gong H, Zhang Y, Lin X, Jing J (2022) Enhanced thermal conductivity and stability of boron nitride/phenyl silicone rubber composites via surface modification and grain alignment. J Mater Sci 57:5805–5824. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-06860-8
Song J, Zhang Y (2020) Vertically aligned Silicon Carbide Nanowires/Reduced Graphene Oxide Networks for enhancing the Thermal Conductivity of Silicone Rubber composites. Compos Part A: Appl Sci Manufac 133:105873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2020.105873
Xue Y, Li X, Wang H, Zhao F, Zhang D, Chen Y (2019) Improvement in thermal conductivity of through-plane aligned boron nitride/silicone rubber composites. Mater Design 165:107580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2018.107580
Deng B, Shi Y, Zhang X, Ma W, Liu H, Gong C (2022) Thermally conductive and electrically insulated Silicone Rubber composites Incorporated with Boron Nitride – Multilayer Graphene Hybrid Nanofiller. Nanomaterials 12:2335. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12142335
Ding D, Zhang S, Liang H, Wang X, Wu Y, Ye Y, Liu Z, Zhang Q, Qin G, Chen Y (2023) Enhancing thermal conductivity of silicone rubber composites by in-situ constructing SiC networks: a finite-element study based on first principles calculation. Nano Res 16:1430–1440. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4639-1
Guo Y, Qiu H, Ruan K, Wang S, Zhang Y, Gu J (2022) Flexible and insulating silicone rubber composites with sandwich structure for thermal management and electromagnetic interference shielding. Compos Sci Technol 219:109253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2021.109253
Han R, Li Y, Zhu Q, Niu K (2022) Research on the preparation and thermal stability of silicone rubber composites: a review. Compos Part C: Open Access 8:100249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomc.2022.100249
Yin Z, Guo J, Jiang X (2021) Significantly improved thermal conductivity of silicone rubber and aligned boron nitride composites by a novel roll-cutting processing method. Compos Sci Technol 209:108794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2021.108794
Xue Y, Wang H, Li X, Chen Y (2021) Exceptionally thermally conductive and electrical insulating multilaminar aligned silicone rubber flexible composites with highly oriented and dispersed filler network by mechanical shearing. Compos A 144:106336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2021.106336
Yan H, Dai X, Ruan K, Zhang S, Shi X, Guo Y, Cai H, Gu J (2021) Flexible thermally conductive and electrically insulating silicone rubber composite films with BNNS@Al2O3 fillers. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 4:36–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-021-00208-1
Zhang Y, Lei C, Wu K, Fu Q (2021) Fully Organic Bulk Polymer with Metallic Thermal Conductivity and Tunable Thermal pathways. Adv Sci 2004821. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202004821
Zhou W, Qi S, Zhao H, Liu N (2007) Thermally conductive silicone Rubber Reinforced with Boron Nitride particle. Polym Compos 28:23–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/pc.20296
Zhong B, Zou J, An L, Ji C, Huang X, Liu W, Yu Y, Wang H, Wen G, Zhao K, Lin X (2019) The effects of the hexagonal boron nitride nanoflake properties on the thermal conductivity of hexagonal boron nitride nanoflake/silicone rubber composites. Compos Part A: Appl Sci Manufac 127:105629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2019.105629
Chen X, Song J, Lim K, Yan W, Guo F, Liang Y, Chen H, Alexis L, Xiao MH (2020) Salt Template assisted BN Scaffold fabrication towards highly thermal conductive epoxy composites. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 12:16987–16996. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c04882
Yu H, Guo P, Qin M, Han G, Chen L, Feng Y, Feng W (2022) Highly thermally conductive polymer composite enhanced by two-level adjustable boron nitride network with leaf venation structure. Compos Sci Technol 222:109406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2022.109406
Pan D, Yang G, Abo-Dief HM, Dong J, Su F, Liu C, Li Y, Xu BB, Murugadoss V, Naik N, El-Bahy SM, El-Bahy ZM, Huang M, Guo Z (2022) Vertically aligned silicon carbide nanowires/boron nitride cellulose aerogel networks enhanced thermal conductivity and electromagnetic absorbing of epoxy composites. Nano-Micro Lett 14:118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-022-00863-z
Xiao C, Guo Y, Tang Y, Ding J, Zhang X, Zheng K, Tian X (2020) Epoxy composite with significantly improved thermal conductivity by constructing a vertically aligned three-dimensional network of silicon carbide nanowires/ boron nitride nanosheets. Compos Part B: Eng 187:107855. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2020.107855
Vu MC, Choi WK, Lee SG, Park P, Kim DH, Islam M, Kim SR (2020) High thermal conductivity enhancement of polymer composites with vertically aligned silicon carbide sheet scaffolds. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 12(20):23388–23398. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c02421
Lule Z, Kim J (2019) Thermally conductive and highly rigid polylactic acid (PLA) hybrid composite filled with surface treated alumina/nano-sized aluminum nitride. Compos Part A: Appl Sci Manufac 124:105506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2019.105506
Jang S, Choi EJ, Cheon HJ, Choi WI, Shin WS, Lim JM (2021) Fabrication of Al2O3/ZnO and Al2O3/Cu Reinforced Silicone Rubber Composite pads for Thermal interface materials. Polymers 13:3259. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13193259
Kurian AS, Mohan VB, Souri HS, Leng JL, Bhattacharyya DB (2020) Multifunctional flexible and stretchable graphite-silicone rubber composites. J Mater Res Technol 9:15621–15630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2020.11.021
Liu D, Kong Q, Jia H, Xie L, Chen J, Tao Z, Wang Z, Jiang D, Chen C (2021) Dual-functional 3D multi-wall carbon nanotubes/graphene/silicone rubber elastomer: thermal management and electromagnetic interference shielding. Carbon 183:216–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2021.07.013
Acknowledgements
Dr. Zhang wish to acknowledge the financial support from the program of China Scholarship Council (202108050050).
Funding
China Scholarship Council,202108050050,Kang Zhang
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Kang Zhang: Methodology, Data acquisition, Formal analysis, Writing-original draft, Funding acquisition. Jianhui Qiu: Methodology, Supervision, Project administration, Data curation. Eiichi Sakai: Project administration, Resources, Supervision. Guohong Zhang: Project administration. Hong Wu: Project administration, Supervision. Shaoyun Guo: Project administration, Supervision. Liang Zhang: Data curation. Hiroyuki Yamaguchi: Resources. Yasunori Chonan: Resources.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval statement
Not Applicable.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, K., Qiu, J., Sakai, E. et al. Thermally conductive silicone rubber used as insulation coating through incremental curing and the effects of thermal filler on its mechanical and thermal properties. J Polym Res 30, 458 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-023-03842-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-023-03842-z