Enhanced Thermal Conductivity and Mechanical Toughness of the Epoxy Resin by Incorporation of Mesogens Without Nanofillers

Epoxy resin is widely used due to its electrical insulation performances, but low elongation defects at the break, low thermal conductivity, and high brittleness limit its application scenarios. In this paper, the mesogen is utilized to improve the thermal conductivity and mechanical toughness of the traditional epoxy resin. Both the mechanical performances, including the impact strength, tensile strength, the bending strength, and the thermal behaviors, including the thermal conductivity, are investigated. Results show that with the biphenyl liquid crystal epoxy resin(BLCER) content of 10%, the impacting strength, tensile strength, and bending strength are increased by 71%, 21%, and 11%, respectively. The thermal conductivity of the composites increases to 2.26 times that of pure epoxy resin. Both the enhanced mechanical and thermal performance of the epoxy resin by the mesogen incorporation are further investigated. It is indicated that the mesogen in the Biphenyl Liquid Crystal Epoxy Resin significantly improve both the mechanical toughness and thermal conductivity of the epoxy resin by the formation of the micro-crack behavior and the thermal conductive networks, respectively. With the aids of the mesogen, the improved variety of properties in epoxy resin without reducing its original performance is attractive in the industry application with great demand in the balance of the comprehensive performances.

Automated summary

Epoxy resin, widely used for its electrical insulation performances, faces limitations in low elongation defects, low thermal conductivity, and high brittleness. Utilizing mesogen in the form of Biphenyl Liquid Crystal Epoxy Resin (BLCER) to improve the traditional epoxy resin, this study shows significant improvements in impact strength, tensile strength, bending strength, and thermal conductivity. Mesogen incorporation leads to enhanced mechanical toughness and thermal conductivity, offering a potential for a variety of properties in epoxy resin without compromising its original performance.