Diamond
Insulating Thermal Conductive Adhesives (DITCA) project supported by the Office
of Chief Scientist (OCS) is aimed at the development of new nanodiamond polymer
compounds with high insulation and heat dissipation ability.
Diamond
has the highest thermal conductivity ever measured 2300 W/mK and very high
electrical resistivity of 10¹³ Ω*cm. Nanodiamonds been
uniformly introduced within polymer matrix significantly enhance thermal
conductivity of the basic material, not affecting or even improving electrical
resistivity.
To provide disaggregation of
nanodiamonds, their homogeneous distribution in polymer matrix and increase in
their performance, modification of their surface is required for each basic
material. RAY has developed special techniques for the functionalization of
nanodiamonds for their desired interaction with polymers.
Nanodiamond additives for
considerable increase in thermal conductivity can be provided in four forms:
- -
functionalized powder;
- -
slurry (dispersions in
various solvents) for mixing with a polymer resin followed by the solvent
evaporation;
- -
hardener with highly
dispersed nanodiamonds in high concentration for mixing with polymer resin and
rapid polymerization;
- -
masterbatch (a polymer
resin with uniformly distributed nanodiamonds in high concentration) for simple
mixing with a polymer resin.
Currently RAY is looking for industrial partners
for commercialization of the developed additives. Samples with functionalized
powder and slurries in water, acetone, cyclohexane and other solvents are
available for evaluation.