Electric-field-induced out-of-plane alignment of clay in poly(dimethylsiloxane) with enhanced anisotropic thermal conductivity and mechanical properties

An Alternating current (AC) electrical field was applied to induce the movement of the clay nanoparticles in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to fabricate flexible membranes embedded with thickness-direction aligned nanoparticles. The influence of the electric field strength and frequency on the movement...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inComposites science and technology Vol. 165; pp. 39 - 47
Main Authors Liu, Zuqi, Peng, Panrui, Liu, Zhihong, Fang, Wei, Zhou, Qingzhong, Liu, Xueqing, Liu, Jiyan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Barking Elsevier Ltd 08.09.2018
Elsevier BV
Subjects
Alignment
Alternating current
Anisotropy
Chains
Clay
Electric field strength
Electric fields
Electric filed
Electrical resistivity
Flexible membranes
Heat conductivity
Heat transfer
Isotropic properties
Light transmittance
Mechanical properties
Membranes
Morphology
Nanoparticles
Polydimethylsiloxane
Raman spectroscopy
Scanning electron microscopy
Silicone resins
Thermal conductivity
Thickness
Nanoparticles
Electric filed
Isotropic properties
Flexible membranes
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Summary:An Alternating current (AC) electrical field was applied to induce the movement of the clay nanoparticles in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to fabricate flexible membranes embedded with thickness-direction aligned nanoparticles. The influence of the electric field strength and frequency on the movement of the particles in the PDMS monomer was investigated using an optical microscope. The morphology of the aligned clay/PDMS membranes frozen with thermal curing was analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal Raman spectroscopy. Benefiting from the anisotropic structure of aligned particle chains, the aligned clay/PDMS membranes show enhanced mechanical properties, thermal conductivity, and the light transmittance in the thickness direction compared to nonaligned membranes. This enhancement effect decreases as the particle concentration exceeds 5 wt %. The reason is that at higher clay concentrations, alignment of the particle is frustrated and particle chains become tilted and irregular owing to an increment in the viscosity of the system.
ISSN:0266-3538
1879-1050
DOI:10.1016/j.compscitech.2018.06.015