Thermoplastic resin with high thermal conductivity

1. A thermoplastic resin wherein:

a main chain which mainly has a repeating unit represented by a general formula (1);

60 mol % or more ends of molecular chains are carboxyl groups; and

thermal conductivity of the thermoplastic resin itself is not less than 0.45 W/(m·K), the general formula (1) being as follows:

-A 1 -x-A 2 -y-R-z-  (1)

where: each of A 1 and A 2 independently represents a substituent group selected from the group consisting of an aromatic group, a fused aromatic group, an alicyclic group, and an alicyclic heterocyclic group; each of x, y, and z independently represents a direct bond, or a bivalent substituent group selected from the group consisting of —CH 2 —, —C(CH 3 ) 2 —, —O—, —S—, —CH 2 —CH 2 —, —CH═CH—, —C≡C—, —CO—O—, —CO—NH—, —CH═N—, —CH═N—N═CH—, —N═N—, and —N(O)═N—; and R represents a bivalent substituent group which has a main chain length of 2 to 20 atoms and may be branched.

2. The thermoplastic resin as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic resin has a number average molecular mass of 3000 to 40000.

3. The thermoplastic resin as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein a mesogenic group M corresponding to -A 1 -x-A 2 - of the thermoplastic resin is a mesogenic group expressed by the following general formula (2),

where: X represents independently aliphatic hydrocarbon group, F, Cl, Br, I, CN, or NO 2 ; n is an integer from 0 to 4; and m is an integer from 2 to 4.

4. The thermoplastic resin as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein R of the thermoplastic resin is a linear aliphatic hydrocarbon chain.

5. The thermoplastic resin as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein R of the thermoplastic resin has even-numbered atoms.

6. The thermoplastic resin as set forth in any claim 1 ,

wherein R of the thermoplastic resin is at least one selected from the group consisting of —(CH 2 ) 8 —, —(CH 2 ) 10 —, and —(CH 2 ) 12 —.

7. The thermoplastic resin as set forth in claim 1 , -y-R-z- of the thermoplastic resin is —O—CO—R—CO—O—.

8. A thermoplastic resin composition, comprising:

a thermoplastic resin as set forth in claim 1 ; and

a thermally conductive filler.

9. The thermoplastic resin composition as set forth in claim 8 , wherein

the thermally conductive filler is at least one highly thermally conductive inorganic compound selected from the group consisting of graphite, conductive metal powder, soft magnetic ferrite, carbon fiber, conductive metal fiber, zinc oxide, and carbon nanotube.

10. The thermoplastic resin composition as set forth in claim 8 , wherein

the thermally conductive filler is an electrically insulative and highly thermally conductive inorganic compound itself having thermal conductivity of not less than 2.0 W/m·K.

11. The thermoplastic resin composition as set forth in claim 8 , wherein

the thermally conductive filler is at least one highly thermally conductive inorganic compound selected from the group consisting of boron nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, magnesium carbonate, aluminum hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, beryllium oxide, and diamond.

12. The thermoplastic resin composition as set forth in claim 8 , wherein:

the thermally conductive filler is an inorganic nitride; and

thermal conductivity of the thermoplastic resin composition is not less than 2.0 W/m·K but not more than 50 W/m·K.

13. The thermoplastic resin composition as set forth in claim 9 , wherein:

the thermally conductive filler is conductive carbon material; and

thermal conductivity of the thermoplastic resin composition is not less than 5.0 W/m·K but not more than 120 W/m·K.