Magnetic Field‐oriented One‐step Fabrication of Metal‐grade Thermally Conductive Carbon Fiber Flexible Thermal Pad

Abstract As modern electronic devices trend toward miniaturization and integration, there is an urgent need for excellent thermal pads to facilitate efficient interface heat transfer. Carbon fibers (CFs), owing to their outstanding axial thermal conductivity and thermal stability, emerge as a promising high‐performance filler. However, the fabrication of high filler content composites using the inherent diamagnetic properties of CFs through magnetic orientation remains challenging. In this study, a solvent dilution method is employed to dilute the high‐viscosity PDMS with ethyl acetate, producing a PDMS dilute solution with a viscosity of only 2.28 mPa·s. This facilitated the vertical alignment of CFs in the solution at a low magnetic field (0.4 T) with a filler content as high as 60 wt.%. Specifically, completely vertical CFs achieved an alignment exceeding 93%. The prepared VCF/PDMS composite exhibited an exceptionally high through‐plane thermal conductivity of 141.57 W m −1 K −1 , reaching the level of metallic thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the thermal management application of the composite material as a thermal interface material for cooling electronic devices is demonstrated.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2025-05-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202505225
Citations
13
Primary Topic
Heat Transfer and Optimization
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
9.27

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article

Magnetic Field‐oriented One‐step Fabrication of Metal‐grade Thermally Conductive Carbon Fiber Flexible Thermal Pad

Tao Cai, Linhong Li, Xinfeng Wu, Rongjie Yang et al.
13 citations
Advanced Functional Materials
Heat Transfer and Optimization
9.27
article

Magnetic Field‐oriented One‐step Fabrication of Metal‐grade Thermally Conductive Carbon Fiber Flexible Thermal Pad

Tao Cai, Linhong Li, Xinfeng Wu, Rongjie Yang, Yingying Guo, Cheng‐Te Lin, Wen Dai, Jinhong Yu, Kazuhito Nishimura, Yiwei Zhou, Yue Qin, Xingye Wang, Zhenbang Zhang, Kang Xu, Yandong Wang, Jianxiang Zhang, Maohua Li, Nan Jiang, Boda Zhu
article en
13 citations

Abstract

Abstract As modern electronic devices trend toward miniaturization and integration, there is an urgent need for excellent thermal pads to facilitate efficient interface heat transfer. Carbon fibers (CFs), owing to their outstanding axial thermal conductivity and thermal stability, emerge as a promising high‐performance filler. However, the fabrication of high filler content composites using the inherent diamagnetic properties of CFs through magnetic orientation remains challenging. In this study, a solvent dilution method is employed to dilute the high‐viscosity PDMS with ethyl acetate, producing a PDMS dilute solution with a viscosity of only 2.28 mPa·s. This facilitated the vertical alignment of CFs in the solution at a low magnetic field (0.4 T) with a filler content as high as 60 wt.%. Specifically, completely vertical CFs achieved an alignment exceeding 93%. The prepared VCF/PDMS composite exhibited an exceptionally high through‐plane thermal conductivity of 141.57 W m −1 K −1 , reaching the level of metallic thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the thermal management application of the composite material as a thermal interface material for cooling electronic devices is demonstrated.

Advanced Functional MaterialsVol. 35(43)
Shanghai Polytechnic University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Heat Transfer and Optimization
9.27
DOISourceOpenAlex
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