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Seeking insulators that conduct more heat

August 13, 2021

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“The key problem we’ve identified, is that improving thermal conductivity alone is not good enough,” said Austin thermal fluids researcher Vaibhav Bahadur. “You need a more holistic understanding of materials to meet electrical, thermal and mechanical requirements.”

Nano-composites are under the microscope – polymers with nanoparticle fillers – some with close to 100 times the thermal conductivity of conventional polymers, according to the university, while retaining polymer-like weight, corrosion performance and ease of fabrication. The team speaks of 10W/mK (commercial) to >50W/mK (research) thermal conductivity compared with 0.1–0.5W/mK in normal polymers.

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