Polymer Nanocomposite Heat Sink to Prevent Heat Related Failures in Electronic Devices

The invention provides a cost effective injection mouldable plastic heat sink that displays excellent thermal conductivity, mechanical strength and electrical resistance in order for it to be applicable for a wide range of uses particularly as a heat sink in the growing electronic and other manufacturing industries. The heat sink is made of a common cheap polymer which is used in manufacturing industries for a variety of products and hence there is no particular requirement for new equipment or tools to fabricate. The developed heat sink can be fabricated into custom designed products of varying size and shape. The heat sink is light in weight and provides mechanical support to the electronic component and/or devices with tunable thermal, electrical and mechanical properties.

This technology is available for licensing. 

Plastic heat sinks made from thermally conductive polymer nanocomposites are an attractive alternative to metal, as they are electrically insulating, light in weight, mechanically stronger, resistant to corrosion, easy to fabricate into complex designs using injection moulding technique, and offer the possibility of integrating several parts of a device or a system. The heat sink design can be tailored to tunable heat absorption and dissipation characteristics that suit an end product. The fabricated plastic heat sink exhibits thermal conductivity 10 times higher than what is reported in the literature and/or adhesive products available in the market but costs 10 times lower.

• High mechanical strength and hardness
• Tunable thermal and electrical conductivities
• Better heat absorption and dissipation
• Enhanced thermal stability

The plastic heat sink polymer nanocomposite can be used in a variety of applications stated as below:

• Heat sink
• LED lamp holder
• Device casing
• High power battery casing
• Aircraft and automobile structure components
• Pipes, tubes and containers (Marine, Off-shore, Oil &Gas applications)

• Fabrication using industry standard processing methods
• Ease of formulation and uniformity control
• Controlled percolation threshold
• Design flexibility and ease of fabrication of components
• Recyclable
• Lower production cost