Photocurable acrylate-based composites with enhanced thermal conductivity containing boron and silicon nitrides

Boron nitride (BN) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) are very promising particulate fillers for production of photocurable composites dedicated to thermally conductive and electrically insulating protective coatings. Composites containing crosslinked methacrylate-based matrices filled with BN or Si3N4 (in amounts up to 5 wt%) were prepared in a fast in situ photocuring process with high conversion (>90%). The monomers were polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate and mono methacrylate (50/50 by weight mixture). Investigations included determination of properties of the monomer/filler compositions, photocuring kinetics and thermal, conductive and mechanical properties of the resulting composites. It was found that addition of the fillers improves polymerization kinetics and mechanical properties compared to the pure polymer matrix. Despite the very low loading level a substantial improvement in thermal conductivity was obtained: a 4-fold increase after addition of only 2 wt% of Si3N4 and 2.5-fold increase after addition of 0.5 wt% of BN. SEM and AFM imaging (with nanoscopic Young's modulus determination) revealed good matrix-filler adhesion for the both types of fillers, tendency of the particles to be preferentially located in the bulk rather than at the interface and formation of thermally conducting paths (for the Si3N4 filler).