Increasing the thermal conductivity of polymer nanocomposites is a prerequisite for the application of polymers in a wide range of technologies, such as electronic packaging. A key challenge in designing polymer nanocomposites with high thermal conductivity is in the thermal boundary resistance present at the particle matrix interface and subsequent reduction in efficiency of thermal conductivity enhancement from embedding inorganics. This presentation will highlight the opportunity to use Surface Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (SI-ATRP) to control, tailor, and minimize thermal boundary resistance in polymer nanocomposites. Through the use of SI-ATRP, it is shown that it is possible to isolate specific parameters such as nature of interfacial interactions or structural confinement of polymer graft, and evaluate the overall influence of each parameter on contributing to the overall thermal transport seen in polymer particle blends. It will be demonstrated that polymer graft modification of inorganics that introduce enthalpically favorable interactions at the interface and induce chain confinement (or extension) in the polymer grafts facilitate increases in thermal conductivity values of polymer nanocomposites that significantly exceed conventional binary nanocomposite systems. The figure below displays enthalpically favorably interacting and extended polymer chains (red) compared to conventional binary composites (blue). 

Elucidation of the governing parameters that dictate thermal transport in polymer nanocomposites

248th National Meeting (2014)

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