Effects of aluminium nitride inclusions on thermal and electrical properties of epoxy and polypropylene: An experimental investigation

Thermal and dielectric properties of polymers reinforced with micro-sized aluminium nitride (AlN) particles have been studied. A set of epoxy-AlN composites, with filler content ranging from 0 to 25 vol% is prepared by hand lay-up technique. With similar filler loading, polypropylene -AlN composites are fabricated by compression molding technique. Density (rho(c)), effective thermal conductivity (k(eff)), glass transition temperature (T-g), coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and dielectric constant (epsilon(c)) of these composites are measured experimentally. The various experimental data were interpreted using appropriate theoretical models. Incorporation of AlN in both the resin increases the k(eff) and T-g whereas CTE of composite decreases favourably. The dielectric constant of the composite also found to get modified with filler content. With improved thermal and modified dielectric characteristics, these AlN filled polymer composites can possibly be used for microelectronics applications. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.