Thermally Conductive Plastic Heat Sink

Modifying plastics to improve their thermal conductivity is a burgeoning area of opportunity for a handful of compounders.

Thermally conductive plastic heat sink.

Thermally conductive plastic for led heat sinks reduces lighting costs june 4 2014 electronics cooling heat sinks led lighting plastics bayer material science has announced makrolon polycarbonate as the latest addition to its family of heat resistant plastics designed specifically for led heat sink applications. After all thermally conductive plastics don t come cheap. Therma tech thermally conductive formulations are engineered to combine the heat transfer dissipation and cooling capabilities of metals with the design freedom weight reduction and cost advantages of thermoplastics. Why bother you might ask.

But today s small hot electronics can benefit from new ways to keep cool like using thermally conductive plastics. Therma tech thermally conductive formulations. Their free formability allows heat sink structures to be configured to provide precisely the required heat distribution. Our first commercial product the ice9 thermally conductive filament is the world s highest thermal conductivity 3d printing plastic and can conduct heat 50x higher than traditional plastics.

Until fairly recently that is. Thermal management once meant a few well placed fans vents and aluminum heat sinks. Materials which also provide electrical insulating properties can help to reduce the need for tims thermal. With a typical thermal in plane conductivity of 20 0w mk thermally conductive thermoplastics improve cooling and reduce temperatures at the heat source.

Thermally conductive plastics the ability of a material to conduct heat is characterized by its thermal conductivity and measured in units of watts meter kelvin w mk. Oems in industries such as electrical electronics automotive lighting medical devices and industrial machinery have been hot for thermally conductive thermoplastics for several years now as they seek new solutions for applications that include heat sinks and other heat removal devices led enclosures and electric battery housings. This allows for 3d printing of new heat transfer products for electronics thermal management heat exchangers mold tooling and many other industries. Heat sinks and other heat removal applications are among the last areas where thermoplastics inherent thermal insulators have yet to replace metals.