Plastic heat sink

• Main Author: Tan, Cornelius Ming Han.
• Other Authors: Tan Cher Ming
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Control and instrumentation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45012
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Plastic can be an ideal heat sink material as it is light and can be stronger than steel. Properties of plastic can hinder the application of heat sink due to the fact that it is a poor thermal conductor. With the implementation of fillers in plastic, composite polymer will be able to solve the thermal conductivity issues. The research focuses on making the filler and polymer matrix a miscible blend such that the cross linkages will facilitate the heat load transfer. The fillers will have to undergo synthesis to create a chemical bond between the fillers and the polymer matrix such as attaching functional group during polymerization. This chemical bond is necessary to create the cross linkages between the fillers and plastic composite to enhance thermal conductivity. The performances of plastic heat sinks are also determined by thermal imaging heat scans and evaluation of performance of light emitting diode when mounted on the plastic heat sinks. Plastic heat sink model is created to correlate heat dissipation with thermal conductivity. Comparison of heat dissipation pattern in metal and plastic heat sink is also studied.