As the development in electronic industry is progressing, the electronic components is reducing its volume. The problem of heat dissipating in these devices become more severe and worst, that arise the need of producing a suitable thermal interface material (TIMs) for modern packaging of such electronic devices[1–3]. The operating temperature influences the durability of electronic components., the difference in temperature leads to decrement in the performance of electronic devices[4, 5]. To achieve reliable, effective materials for heat dissipation, The thermal conductivity of thermal interface material must be improved. Heat sinks are commonly used to overcome this issues, but it often leads micro-cracking that induced due to thermal fatigue[6].
Most of researchers recently use the thermal conductive fillers such as alumina, magnesium oxide, or boron nitride which require high proportion (50 ~ 70 vol. %) of filler in polymers to achieve good thermal conductivity values from 1 ~ 5 W.m-1K-1[7–9]. A variety of fibers and particles has already been used as a filler to improve the thermal conductivity of polymer composite. [10–12]. However, a large proportion of thermal conductive filler is usually required for the improvement of thermal properties, but on the downside leading to the deprived mechanical properties of the composite owing to the high stiffness of the filler and low interfacial interaction between the filler and matrix [13, 14]. The challenge in that area is the better interfacial bonding, good physical and mechanical properties of the composite [15–18].
Nano composites have shown better considerable characteristics and thermal properties due to their high surface area they have better interfacial interaction with matrix [19, 20]. But due to high surface energy these nanoparticles are the cause of the agglomeration and aggregation which depletes the properties of polymer filler composites. One of the best route to deal with these problems is chemical functionalization of the nanoparticle that develops a strong interconnecting networks between particles and the polymers [21, 22]. Surface modified titania showed the improved mechanical properties when it incorporated in phthalonitrile resin[23]. In our previous work, the functionalization of graphene with O-Phenylenediamine (OPD) shows significant improvement in thermal conductivity. By adding just 6 wt. % of OPD-f-Graphene ~ 13 fold of rise in thermal conductivity has been noted[24]. The thermal conductivity of polyimdie filled boron nitride is improved to 1.2 W.m-1.K-1 after surface modification of boron nitride particles[25]. The addition of filler also improves mechanical properties of the composite; A 22% improvement in compressive strength has been recorded in carbon fiber/epoxy composites via Microwave curing, This is due to improved interfacial bonding between the resin and the fiber. [26]. In other report, the mechanical and thermal properties were altered by adding functionalized graphene nano plates in polyurethane matrix and demonstrated that functionalized graphene increased 10 times Young’s modulus of f-GNP/PU as compare to neat PU[27]. Moreover, the addition of 1 wt.% functionalized silica nanoparticles attached with graphene oxide enhance the tensile strength and modulus by 29.2% and 22.0% as compared to pure epoxy[28]. It is realized that the chemical functionalization in nanoparticles can help in better dispersion of the filler and generates strong inter connecting networks for better thermal and mechanical properties. In this paper, the functionalization of nano MgO with APTES(S-MgO) has been performed and introduced to epoxy for improving the dispersibility of the filler in epoxy matrix. The mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy nanocomposite are improved as S-MgO particles enhance the interfacial bond.