Novel Ceramic-Polymer Composite for Stereolithography with Enhanced Thermal Conductivity

This work aimed to develop and characterize a novel composite material with enhanced thermal conductivity for stereolithography 3D printing. The motivation behind this research is to replace standard construction materials used for battery systems of small satellites for Earth orbit and thus improve thermal management. The approach adopted involved doping of a commercial photopolymer resin with ceramic particles, specifically hexagonal boron nitride ($h-B N$) and a mixture of BN and alumina $\left(\mathrm{Al}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3}\right)$ in a ratio of $85: 15$. A series of composite mixtures were formulated through ultrasonication and subsequently utilized for the 3D printing of the testing specimens. To preserve the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of the process, no additional components or rheology modifiers were incorporated into the mixture. It was successfully achieved to prepare composites with maximal particle loadings of $12.5 \mathrm{wt}. \%$ of $\mathrm{h}-\mathrm{BN}$ and $17.5 \mathrm{wt}. \%$ of BN and alumina mixture. According to the measurement results, the thermal conductivity increased by 79 and $82 \%$ for $h-B N$ and $B N$ alumina mixture composites, respectively. The initial results are encouraging, but further optimization of the production process is expected to enhance the performance and increase the maximal particle loading.