High moisture accelerated mechanical behavior degradation of phosphor/silicone composites used in white light-emitting diodes

Jiajie Fan*, Zhen Wang, Xunwei Zhang, Zentao Deng, Xuejun Fan, Guoqi Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)
66 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In a high-power white light emitting diode (LED) package, the phosphor/silicone composite is typically used for photometric and colorimetric conversions, ultimately producing the white light. However, the phosphor/silicone composite is always exposed under harsh environments with high temperature, high blue light irradiation and high moisture when the LED operates. Therefore, its reliability issue has become one of the critical bottlenecks to improve the lifetime of a high-power white LED package. As the curing process and mechanical behavior of phosphor/silicone composite essentially determine its reliability, this paper firstly uses an in situ viscosity monitoring approach combined with Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis to explain the curing mechanism of a phosphor/silicone composite by taking the effects of temperature and phosphor mass fraction into consideration. Then, the mechanical properties of phosphor/silicone composites aged under a long-term high moisture condition are evaluated by using the tensile test. Meanwhile, the finite element (FE) simulations, the Mori-Tanaka theoretical estimations and the microstructure analysis are applied to investigate the high moisture induced degradation mechanisms. The results show that: (1) the in situ measured isothermal viscosity curves of both pristine silicone and phosphor/silicone composites follow the Arrhenius empirical model, and high temperature and high phosphor mass fraction can increase the curing rate; (2) the hydrosilylation reaction between silicones determines the curing mechanism of phosphor/silicone composite; (3) the tensile test, FE simulation and Mori-Tanaka theoretical prediction results confirm that the Young's modulus of phosphor/silicone composite increases by gradually adding phosphors; and (4) the Young's modulus of phosphor/silicone composite increases after the high moisture ageing test, which can be attributed to the oxidation and cross-linking reaction of silicone and the hydrolysis of phosphor powders.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1277
Pages (from-to)1-16
Number of pages16
JournalPolymers
Volume11
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Curing mechanism
  • Light-emitting diode
  • Mechanical properties
  • Moisture
  • Phosphor/silicone composite

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