PolyMetal Workshop: Thermally Conductive Materials Review

PolyMetal Workshop „Thermally conductive Materials“

On June 18th 2020, the online workshop "Thermally conductive materials" took place within the project PolyMetal. Because of the Covid 19 situation, the event was organized as an online workshop via Microsoft teams. Despite severely restrictions, the workshop brought together almost 40 participants from Slovenia, Austria and Italy, with experts from the company COVESTRO from Germany. The workshop was mainly organized by the partners Montanuniversität Leoben (MUL) and Faculty of Polymer Technology (FTPO) and was chaired by R. Reumüller from MUL. After the welcome and introductory words she gave the floor to the experts Dr. Fabian Grote and Dr. Tim Hungerland of COVESTRO, a leading company for innovative materials.  After the experts had briefly introduced themselves and their company, Dr. Grote and Dr. Hungerland presented "New Ways to manage heat enabled by thermally conductive MAKROLON® polycarbonate - Macrolon® TC, a polycarbonate grade developed by the manufacturer specifically for high thermal conductivity.  On the basis of several case studies, requirements for the components were shown, the performance of aluminium and thermally conductive polymer (Makrolon® TC) was compared and the advantages of the polymer solution compared to the previous solution using aluminium components were highlighted. After materials made of polycarbonate with special effects for the lighting industry were also presented, the participants took the opportunity to clarify open questions with the experts and to discuss this interesting topic in the session afterwards.  After the detailed discussion, R. Reumüller presented the project PolyMetal and its objectives to the participants and also explained how the interests and needs of companies and R&D institutions can be taken into account for future activities on the basis of the questionnaire prepared within the framework of the project (https://de.surveymonkey.com/r/HN3S2FB). As the next planned workshop will be held in autumn at FTPO, Maja Mešl from FTPO, pointed out the next activities of the project partners and showed how interested companies and R&D institutions can get access  to reports, results and information concerning the project activities by visiting the project homepage /activities/.  As coordinator of the LinkedIn group of PolyMetal (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13740430/ ) she also invited the participants to become a member of this group to be informed about the latest activities. R. Reumüller concluded by thanking the almost 40 participants for their lively interest. The handouts of the presentations were sent to the participants via link for download and will be made available to other interested parties on request by R. Reumüller (renate.reumueller@unileoben.ac.at) or M. Mešl (maja.mesl@ftpo.eu).