Researchers Develop Heat-Conducting Plastic
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a type of plastic they say is 10 times better at conducting heat than conventional counterparts and may lead to making more powerful electronics or more efficient vehicles. The new material, which is actually a blend, results from one of the first attempts to engineer the flow of heat in an amorphous polymer, a large molecule made of smaller repeating molecules. Lead researcher Jinsang Kim, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, says previous efforts to boost heat transfer in polymers have relied on metal or ceramic filler materials, or stretching molecule chains into straight lines. “Those approaches can be difficult to scale up and can increase a material’s weight and cost, make it more opaque, and affect how it conducts electricity and reflects light,” he says. He adds that the new material has none of those drawbacks, and it is easy to manufacture with conventional methods. The study is published in the journal Nature Materials.
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