Thermal Transport Analysis of Strained Polymer Films

Strained polymer films are commonly used as dielectric materials in high energy density capacitors, and processed such that they have significant anisotropy in a variety of materials parameters. In order to interrogate the influence of this anisotropy in thermal transport characteristics, we use the Transient Electro Thermal Technique (TET). TET enables characterization of novel materials with micrometer dimensions, without necessitating bulk production, reducing the time and cost of materials research. Using TET, we are able to obtain resolution of anisotropy in strained polymer films simply by modifying the orientation of the measurement. We compare the results of this thermal diffusivity obtained via TET analysis to the expected enhancement in thermal diffusivity results, from molecular dynamics modeling, of mechanically strained polymers. These findings demonstrate the utility of this for use in novel, laboratory-scale, polymer-based dielectric film fabrication.