Carbodeon has developed a thermal filler using nanodiamonds that increases the conductivity of thermally conductive polymers by 25 percent, providing significant performance increases for polymers used in electronics and LED manufacture.

Starting with a polyamide 66 (PA66) reference material containing 45 percent by weight of boron nitride as the thermal filler, Carbodeon created a new material using 44.9 percent boron nitride and 0.1% of its uDiamond nanodiamond powder. The thermal conductivity of the PA66 increased by 25 percent, averaged across all planes.

The increase in thermal conductivity is achieved without affecting the electrical insulation or other mechanical properties of the material, making it an ideal choice for a wide range of electronics and LED applications.

Carbodeon CTO Vesa Myllymaki said: “The performance improvements achieved by this filler are derived from the extremely high thermal conductivity of diamond, at around 2000 W/mK. The key development made by Carbodeon is to tune the surface chemistry of the diamond particles and mixing process to develop a nano-composite in which the diamond is very well interfaced to the polymer molecules.”

The active surface chemistry inherent in detonation-synthesised nanodiamonds has historically presented difficulties in application of these promising 4-6 nm particles, making them prone to agglomeration. Carbodeon tunes that surface chemistry so that the particles are driven to disperse and to become consistently integrated throughout parent materials, especially polymers. The much-promised properties of diamond can thus be imparted to other materials with very low, and hence economic, concentrations.

Myllymaki added: “Through Carbodeon technology, really effective improvements to several physical properties can be made with the addition of small quantities of nanodiamond. We are developing a range of customer applications and are always interested to show manufacturers what benefits can be achieved. We know we have not yet uncovered all the benefits that Carbodeon nanodiamonds can deliver, and are always excited by engaging with customers to investigate new challenges.”