DOWSILTM TC-6040 is developed as 2-part thermal encapsulant with highest thermal conductivity 4W/mK to boost thermal dissipation in EV powertrain, which has been commercialized and formally launched in 2024.

With the fast-growing market of EV globally, the power electronics are rising focus on higher power energy design due to required faster charging and higher energy battery. Meanwhile, the OEMs have been working on reducing size and consolidation of components to enable lightweight design. These trends require very good thermal management. EV high power units including on board charger (OBC), DC-DC converter and Transformer require high thermal conductivity material for effective thermal dissipation. Thermally conductive encapsulants are commonly used in electronics and EV manufacturing because they provide robust thermal management by dissipating heat away from heating source, thus preventing overheating and ensuring that electronic devices operate within safe temperature ranges. They also provide a barrier that protects electronic components from moisture, dust, and other environmental factors that can cause damage or degradation over time. Moreover, encapsulant materials also increase the mechanical strength of electronic devices by providing additional support and protection against physical stress and shock, and offer enhanced electrical insulation to prevent electrical shorts and other issues that can arise from exposure to moisture.

Better thermal performance (above 4W/mK) requires >90w% thermally conductive fillers, while this improvement often results in high viscosity and inferior flowability which are unfavorable for good impregnation-ability of encapsulant materials at customer use. By well balancing the thermal conductivity and flowability, the filler package has been unprecedently tailored as tri-model packing model. Besides, filler treating agent plays vital role on viscosity and flowability of encapsulant. The patented filler treating technology is utilized to enable good miscibility of fillers with polymer matrix. As a resultant, DOWSIL™ TC-6040 thermally conductive encapsulant with 4W/mK thermal conductivity delivers superior flowability than all other competitors’ products, beneficial for feasible impregnation at customer complex modules, and very less filler sedimentation and easy re-homogeneity, prolonging shelf life for customer use. 

The combination of attributes highlights the improvements of DOWSIL™ TC-6040 thermally conductive encapsulant compared to current state-of-art incumbent products.

1. high thermal conductivity 4W/mK to effectively boost thermal dissipation in EV powertrain units,
2. superior impregnation-ability to fill in complex electronic devices, outperforming all competitors’ product and setting the stage for the next generation of even more demanding applications as powertrain units become integrated with higher power density,
3. less filler sedimentation for easy re-homogeneity,
4. stable and long shelf life to enable consistent product property for customer use.