Bidirectionally Oriented Carbon Fiber/Silicone Rubber Composites with a High Thermal Conductivity and Enhanced Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Effectiveness

Effective thermal management and electromagnetic shielding have emerged as critical goals in contemporary electronic device development. However, effectively improving the thermal conductivity and electromagnetic shielding performance of polymer composites in multiple directions continues to pose significant challenges. In this work, inspired by the efficiency of interchange bridges in enabling vehicles to pass quickly in multiple directions, we employed a straightforward method to fabricate bidirectionally oriented carbon fiber (CF)/silicone rubber composites with an interchange-bridge-like structure. The high aspect ratio of CFs and their bidirectional orientation structure play a pivotal role in facilitating the formation of thermal and electrical pathways within the composites. Meanwhile, the bidirectionally oriented CF/silicone rubber composites showed a significant enhancement in tensile strength in both the vertical and horizontal directions, attributed to the cross-arrangement of CF arrays within the composites. At a filler content of 62.3 wt%, the bidirectionally oriented CF/silicone rubber composites had a high tensile strength of 6.18 MPa. The composites also exhibited an excellent thermal conductivity of 25.3 W/(m·K) and a remarkable electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of 61.6 dB. The bidirectionally oriented CF/silicone rubber composites show potential for addressing thermal management and electromagnetic shielding issues in electronic devices.