Thermally enhanced aerosol-forming substrate

Abstract

There is provided an aerosol-forming substrate for use in a heated aerosol-generating article, the aerosol-forming substrate comprising a co-laminated sheet comprising a layer of aerosol-forming material and a layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material.

1 . An aerosol-forming substrate for use in a heated aerosol-generating article, the aerosol-forming substrate comprising a co-laminated sheet comprising a layer of aerosol-forming material and a layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material different to the aerosol-forming material, wherein:
 the layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material comprises a reconstituted carbon-based material, the reconstituted carbon-based material comprising an aerosol former and thermally conductive particles; and   the thermally conductive particles each have a thermal conductivity of at least 1 Watt per metre Kelvin in at least one direction at 25 degrees Celsius.   
     
     
         2 . An aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 1 , wherein the layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material is in the form of a film or foil. 
     
     
         3 . An aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 1 , wherein the layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material comprises carbon fibres, graphite or graphene. 
     
     
         4 . An aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 1 , wherein the reconstituted carbon-based material comprises the aerosol former on a dry weight basis of between 7 and 60 wt %. 
     
     
         5 . An aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 1 , wherein the co-laminated sheet comprises or is in the form of a gathered sheet. 
     
     
         6 . An aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 1 , wherein some or all of the thermally conductive particles comprise one or more of graphite, expanded graphite, graphene, carbon nanotubes and charcoal. 
     
     
         7 . An aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 1 , wherein the reconstituted carbon-based material comprises one or both of fibres and a binder. 
     
     
         8 . A rod for an aerosol-generating article, the rod comprising an aerosol-forming substrate as defined in  claim 1 . 
     
     
         9 . A heated aerosol-generating article comprising a rod according to  claim 8 . 
     
     
         10 . An aerosol-generating system comprising an aerosol-generating article according  claim 9  and an electrically operated aerosol-generating device. 
     
     
         11 . A method of forming an aerosol-forming substrate comprising: combining a layer of aerosol-forming material with a layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material different to the aerosol forming-material to form a co-laminated sheet, wherein:
 the layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material comprises a reconstituted carbon-based material, the reconstituted carbon-based material comprising an aerosol former and thermally conductive particles; and   the thermally conductive particles each have a thermal conductivity of at least 1 Watt per metre Kelvin in at least one direction at 25 degrees Celsius.   
     
     
         12 . A method of forming an aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises the step of forming the layer of aerosol-forming material. 
     
     
         13 . A method of forming an aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 12 , wherein the step of combining the sheets comprises casting the layer of aerosol-forming material on top of the layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material. 
     
     
         14 . A method of forming a rod comprising an aerosol-forming substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a co-laminated sheet comprising an aerosol-forming material and a carbon-based thermally conductive material different to the aerosol forming-material, wherein the layer of carbon-based thermally conductive material comprises a reconstituted carbon-based material, the reconstituted carbon-based material comprising an aerosol former and thermally conductive particles, the thermally conductive particles each having a thermal conductivity of at least 1 Watt per metre Kelvin in at least one direction at 25 degrees Celsius;   gathering the co-laminated sheet transversely relative to its longitudinal axis;   circumscribing the gathered co-laminated sheet with a wrapper to form a continuous rod; and   severing the continuous rod into a plurality of discrete rods.   
     
     
         15 . A method of forming an aerosol-generating article comprising assembling the aerosol-generating article from a plurality of components, the plurality of components including an aerosol-forming substrate according to  claim 1 .