High through-plane thermal conductivity of polymer based product with vertical alignment of graphite flakes achieved via 3D printing

The polymer/graphite based products fabricated by conventional molding method possess limited through-plane thermal conductivities (TPTCs) because the graphite flakes are strongly aligned in the in plane direction. Based on the characteristic of fused deposition modeling (FDM, a trendy technology of 3D printing), rational design of 3D printing (3DP) process can make the graphite flakes orient along the through-plane direction. In this paper, high TPTC of polymer/graphite based products with graphite flakes vertically aligned are achieved via FDM. Although lots of voids generated during the fused deposition process, the optimal product shows a high TPTC as 5.5 W m(-1) K-1 because the fluent heat conductive pathways are not blocked by the voids. Finally, a heat sink with good thermally conductive property used for the 3D printer is successfully fabricated and it can well meet the heat dissipation requirement of 3D printer. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.