Manufacturing Process Development for High Temperature Polymer or Nanocomposite Films for Dielectric Capacitors

Dielectric materials, which store energy electrostatically, are ubiquitous in advanced electronics and electric power systems. Polymer dielectrics have highbreakdown strengths and excellent reliability, are scalable, lightweight and can be shaped into intricate configurations, and are therefore an ideal choice for many power electronics, power conditioning, and pulsed power applications. A variety of high-performance engineering polymers perform reasonably well at high temperatures but only under relatively low electric fields. It has been shown that improving thermal conductivity of the polymer film dielectrics vastly improves performance, but scalability remains an issue.In this Phase II program, Composite Technology Development, Inc. (CTD), in collaboration with Dr. Qing Wang and Chasm Advanced Materials will leverage the results of the Phase I program to optimize our thermally conductive nanocomposite film dielectric performance and then to develop processes to scale these material for future commercial production. The program includes material optimization and testing tasks, cost analysis, prototype capacitor demonstration, and demonstration of pilot-scale roll-to-roll production. The technology is expected to reach TRL4 at the conclusion of the base program and TRL5 to TRL6 at the conclusion of the option.