The thermal properties of a UV curable acrylate composite prepared by digital light processing 3D printing

Abstract

Digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing is a potential alternative to traditional thermal curing due to its short curing time and free design customization in the absence of a mold. With this in mind, the present work is aimed at identifying the optimum composition of a printable photopolymer resin with butyl acrylate as the main-chain monomer and diurethane dimethacrylate as a crosslinker to generate a thermal interface material. In particular, the influence of the crosslinker-to-monomer ratio upon the mechanical properties of the printed material is investigated. In addition, aluminum nitride (AlN) is used as the filler due to its excellent thermal conductivity, electrical insulation, and cost effectiveness. The thermal conductivity of the printed material with 30 wt% AlN is shown to be 1.43 W/mK in the in-plane direction and 0.35 W/mK in the through-plane direction. These values are respectively 477 and 350% higher than those of pure acrylate resins, and are attributed to the creation of an efficient thermal transport pathway via dispersion of the AlN particles throughout the layered acrylate resin. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd