Flexible and Recyclable Epoxy Vitrimer With Improved Thermal Conductivity for Thermal Management

ABSTRACT The accelerated evolution of electronic devices has resulted in an increased demand for thermal management materials. In this study, methoxy polyethylene glycol (MPEG) was introduced into a covalent adaptable epoxy network. It is demonstrated that the epoxy material becomes softer as the amount of MPEG content is increased, specifically exhibiting excellent flexibility with an impressive elongation at break of 444.68%. The thermal conductivity of the epoxy resin was enhanced by the incorporation of boron nitride (BN) filler, and the findings demonstrated that the thermal conductivity of the composites was markedly elevated to 3.34 Wm −1 K −1 when the proportion of BN filler reached 50%. The potential use of such composites as thermal management materials is demonstrated in their application for heat dissipation in LED chips. In addition, the covalent adaptive network enables the decomposition of the composites prepared in this study under chemical conditions, with the fillers subsequently being separated by physical filtration. This approach offers a potential pathway toward the sustainable development of thermal management materials.