Effects and mechanism of filler content on thermal conductivity of composites: a case study on plasticized polyvinyl chloride/graphite composites

Thermally conductive polymer composites that retain mechanics and processing properties have attracted significant attention because of promising high thermal conductivity. Herein, plasticized polyvinyl chloride (P-PVC)/graphite composites were successfully prepared via melt blending. Following the addition of graphite rising from 0 to 300 phr, the thermal conductivity of P-PVC/graphite composites increases from 0.18 to 3.01 W m−1 K−1. The thermal conductivity of P-PVC/graphite composites with 300 phr graphite is 17 times that of the P-PVC matrix. P-PVC/graphite composites with high thermal conductivity have excellent performance in thermal management for LEDs. Therefore, the high thermal conductivity allows for the LED’s temperature to drop 44%, compared with the P-PVC matrix, at 1.5 V. The notably cooling effect provides the ideas for the future application of the P-PVC/graphite composites in the thermal management for electronic components.