In this paper, the characteristics of a carbon nanotube composite heat sink proposed to replace the advanced Al heat sinks for LED lighting devices were studied. Proposed CMP-PLA heat sink was made by mixing 20∼70 wt% carbon nanotube, 20∼70 wt% bio-degradable polymer of melt-blended PLA (poly lactic acid) and PBS (poly butylene succinate) and PLA nucleating agents composed of the mixture of soybean oil and biotites, at 150∼220℃ with 1,000∼1,500 rpm. Optical and electric characteristics of 7.5W LED lighting devices using heat sinks with such prepared CMP-PLA were investigated. And, the properties of the heat, which was not released from the CMP-PLA type heat sinks, was also investigated. The color temperature of LED lighting devices using the CMP-PLA heat sinks was 5,956 K,which is x= 0.32 and y= 0.34 in the XY chromaticity, and the color rendering index was 75. The luminous flux and the luminous efficiency of LED lighting devices using the CMP-PLA heat sinks was 540.6 lm and 72.68 lm/W respectively. Measured initial temperature of the heat sinks was 27℃, and their temperature increased as time to be saturated at 52℃ after an hour.

In this study, we proposed CMP-PLAs to replace the Al heat sinks as heat sink materials, and investigated heat dissipation characteristics of the LED lighting devices using them. The crystallinity of the proposed CMP-PLA heat sinks decreased with increasing carbon nanotube contents in CMP-PLA. However, the thermal conductivity was improved with the increase of the carbon nanotube contents. The heat dissipation characteristics of the LED lighting devices using CMP-PLA heat sinks was improved with increasing carbon nanotube contents in CMP-PLA. For the LED lighting devices using CMP-PLA heat sinks with 40% carbon nanotube contents, the initial temperature measured at the heat sink plate was 27℃, which increased as time, and it was saturated around 56℃ after an hour. The LED lighting devices using CMP-PLA heat sinks are expected to be functional materials that can reduce their weight and improve their electric properties, compared to those using existing Al heat sinks.