Treatment of Atmospheric-Pressure Radio Frequency Plasma on Boron Nitride for Improving Thermal Conductivity of Polydimethylsiloxane Composites

Boron nitride (BN) particles were treated with atmospheric-pressure radio frequency plasma and then modified using a triethoxyvinyl silane coupling agent in order to enhance the thermal conductivity of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composites. Raw BN, silane-treated BN, and silane-plasma-treated BN were incorporated into PDMS matrix. The surface modification by plasma and coupling agent was verified. The composites filled with treated BN showed a superior effect on thermal conductivity compared to the raw BN filled composite at the same filler loading. Specifically, using silane-plasma-treated BN at 40 wt% of BN increased the thermal conductivity from 1.7 to 3.4 W/mK.