Emerging low-density polyethylene/paraffin wax/aluminum composite as a form-stable phase change thermal interface material

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) play a vital role in the thermal management of electronic devices and can significantly reduce thermal contact resistance (TCR). The TCR between the solid-liquid contact surface is much smaller than that of the solid-solid contact surface, but conventional solid-liquid phase change materials are likely to cause serious leakage. Therefore, this work has prepared a new form-stable phase change thermal interface material. Through the melt blending of paraffin wax (PW) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE), the stability is improved and it has an excellent coating effect on PW. The addition of aluminum (Al) powder improves the low thermal conductivity of PW/LDPE, and the addition of 15wt% Al powder improves the thermal conductivity of the internal structure of the matrix by 67%. In addition, the influence of the addition of Al powder on the internal structure, thermal properties, and phase change behavior of the PW/LDPE matrix was systematically studied. The results confirmed that the addition of Al powder improved the thermal conductivity of the material without a significant impact on other properties, and the thermal conductivity increased with the increase of Al addition. Therefore, morphologically stable PW/LDPE/Al is an important development direction for TIMs.