Enhanced thermal conductivity of silicon carbide nanowires (SiCw)/epoxy resin composite with segregated structure

Epoxy based composites containing structurally segregated silicon carbide nanowires (SiCw) were manufactured by template method followed with infiltrating technique. Polystyrene (PS) microspheres serving as templates were adopted to prepare the PS/SiCw composite first, then, the stable porous SiCw skeleton was formed after the PS sintered in air atmosphere. Silane coupling agent was firstly used as an adhesive to maintain the honeycomb-like SiCw structure in the initial preparation process. The residual silica which produced by the sintered silane coupling agent consolidated the nanowire junctions. This prefabricated segregated structure improved the thermal conductivity of epoxy/SiCw composite in which 0.43 W/mK was obtained when the content of SICw was 3.91 vol%. Besides, the contact resistance was reduced 42% compared with traditional route. Agari's model proved that this novel preparation process is much easier to form the heat conductive network in polymer matrix. This strategy paves a new way for preparing thermal management materials.