AbstractHexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanoplatelets (0.6 μm in diameter and 100 nm in thickness) are introduced into epoxy resin to improve the polymer’s thermal conducting ability. As expected, the thermal conductivities (TCs) of the composites, especially the in-plane TCs, are significantly increased. The in-plane TC of the epoxy composites can reach 1.67 W/mK at only 0.53 wt% loading, indicating h-BN nanopletelets are very effective thermal fillers. However, after carefully studied the correlation of the TC improvement and filler content, a sudden drop of the TC around 0.53 wt% filler loading is observed. Such an unexpected decrease in TC has never been reported and is also found to be consistent with the Tg changes versus filler content. Similar trend is also observed in other 2-D nanofillers, such as graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, which may indicate it is a general phenomenon for 2-D nanofillers. SEM results suggest that such sudden drop in TC might be coming from the enrichment of these 2-D nanofillers in localized areas due to their tendency to form more ordered phase above certain concentrations.
Boron nitride nanoplatelets as two-dimensional thermal fillers in epoxy composites: new scenarios at very low filler loadings