Characterization of a New Epoxy Resin System for Thermal Management Application

In this study, a resin mixture based on bisphenol-A epoxy and a new curing agent was prepared. The new curing agent contains both imide and amine functional groups. The physical properties of the material based on the new resin system including Tg, peel strength, solder float (288degC), Td (5%) were investigated. It was found the peel strength of copper substrate with the new curing agent system is better than the one with a PN-cured material. Meanwhile, the same substrate with the new curing agent would bear much more time in the solder float test than the one with a Dicy-cured system. High thermal conductive inorganic filler was added in this new system and its thermal conductive property was also studied. A new method was developed to compare the thermal conductivity of various materials. It was also found the thermal conductivity of the substrate with a high content of filler was comparable with those of the commercial products. The newly developed material can be used as a heat transfer medium for various thermal management applications in PCB and LED industries.