Fabrication of highly thermal conductive PA6/hBN composites via in-situ polymerization process

In this research, thermally conductive polyamide 6/hexagonal boron nitride (PA6/hBN) nanocomposites waaere fabricated via an in-situ ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactam. The hBN filler was exfoliated through a co-solvent exfoliation process and then chemically modified to form an ε-caprolactam-grafted BN (cBN). After that, PA6 was introduced onto the cBN surface using a grafting from method. The thermal conductivities of the PA6/cBN composites significantly increased up to 180 % when the BN content was 16.5 wt%. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus of the PA6/cBN composites with 16.5 wt% hBN increased by 30 % and 92 %, respectively, compared to the pristine PA6. The grafted PA6 on BN composites exhibited strong polymer-filler interfacial interactions. Overall, this study provides a facile method of fabricating high-performance PA6 with improved thermal and mechanical properties and higher thermal conductivity.