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

The thermal conductivity κ of polymer nanoparticle composites is typically <10 Wm⁻¹K⁻¹, even when high κ 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 κ in bulk nanocomposites of silver nanoparticles dispersed in epoxy and cured at low temperature (150 °C). A nanocomposite with 30 vol. % 20nm particles exhibited κ ∼30 Wm⁻¹K⁻¹.² The mechanism responsible for enhancing κ was found to be the self-construction, through in-situ sintering, of high aspect ratio metallic networks inside the nanocomposite.² In order to control and optimize the network structure and subsequently increase κ even further, this work focuses on studying the effects of curing temperature and nanoparticle surface coating on the structure of the nanocomposite.