Buckling of Magnetically Formed Filler Fiber Columns under Compression Increases Thermal Resistance of Soft Polymer Composites

Thermally conductive soft composites are in high demand, and aligning the fill material is a potential method of enhancing their thermal performance. In particular, magnetic alignment of nickel particles has previously been demonstrated as an easy and effective way to improve directional thermal conductivity of such composites. However, the effect of compression on the thermal performance of these materials has not yet been investigated. This work investigates the thermal performance of magnetically aligned nickel fibers in a soft polymer matrix under compression. The fibers orient themselves in the direction of the applied magnetic field and align into columns, resulting in a 3× increase in directional thermal conductivity over unaligned composites at a volume fraction of 0.15. Nevertheless, these aligned fiber columns buckle under strain resulting in an increase in the composite thermal resistance. These results highlight potential pitfalls of magnetic filler alignment when designing soft composites for applications where strain is expected such as thermal management of electronics.