Annealing Temperature Effect on the Structure of High Thermal Conductivity Silver/Epoxy Nanocomposites

The thermal conductivity kappa of polymer nanoparticle composites is typically <10 Wm(-1)K(-1), even when high kappa nanofillers are employed, due to the thermal interface resistance between nanoparticles and the polymer matrix1 or the absence of high thermal conductivity pathways. We recently demonstrated high K in bulk nanocomposites of silver nanoparticles dispersed in epoxy and cured at low temperature (150 C). A nanocomposite with 30 vol. % 20nm particles exhibited kappa similar to 30 Wm(-1)K(-12) The mechanism responsible for enhancing ic was found to be the self-construction, through insitu sintering, of high aspect ratio metallic networks inside the nanocomposite.2 In order to control and optimize the network structure and subsequently increase kappa even further, this work focuses on studying the effects of curing temperature and nanoparticle surface coating on the structure of the nanocomposite.