Alumina/polyurethane composites were prepared via in situ polymerization and used as thermal interface materials (TIMs). The surface of alumina particles was modified using polydopamine (PDA) and then evaluated via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), and Raman spectroscopy (Raman). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that PDA-Al 2 O 3 has better dispersion in a polyurethane (PU) matrix than Al 2 O 3 . Compared with pure PU, the 30 wt% PDA-Al 2 O 3 /PU had 95% more Young's modulus, 128% more tensile strength, and 76% more elongation at break than the pure PU. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results showed that the storage modulus of the 30 wt% PDA-Al 2 O 3 /PU composite improved, and the glass transition temperature (Tg) shifted to higher temperatures. The thermal conductivity of the 30 wt% PDA-Al 2 O 3 /PU composite increased by 138%. Therefore, the results showed that the prepared PDA-coated alumina can simultaneously improve both the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of PU. ceramic fillers, spherical Al 2 O 3 has often been used as electronic packaging materials because it exhibits higher thermal conductivity (32 W/m K), easier surface modification, wider source, higher load, lower viscosity, better fluidity, and excellent insulation performance [19,20]. Alumina as a thermal conductivity filler to enhance the thermal conductivity of polymers has been widely examined by many researchers [21][22][23].In general, the high thermal conductivity of polymer composites mainly depends on whether the filler has a good thermal conduction path or network, which is mainly related to the interfacial interaction and dispersion of the filler in polymers matrix [7,[24][25][26]. Generally speaking, poor interface combination between a thermal conductivity filler and polymer matrix leads to poor dispersion of the filler. These all cause strong phonon scattering and reduce phonon transmission efficiency, and then lead to the poor thermal conductivity of the interface [12,18,20,27,28]. It is reported that surface modification and functionalization of the filler can improve compatibility with the polymer matrix [29,30]. Common surface modification methods are hydroxylation [31], surfactant [32], coupling agent [27,33], etc. In recent years, bio-activated modification of polydopamine has become popular as a simple, environmentally-friendly, and efficient method. Polydopamine (PDA) is easy to adhere to the surface of inorganic and organic materials, and the abundant phenolic hydroxyl groups on the surface of polydopamine are conducive to the formation of stronger interaction with the resin matrix [9,13,17,34]. In this study, the surface of spherical Al 2 O 3 was modified using polydopamine as a modifier. In order to realize insulating composites with high thermal conductivity and mechanical properties, a high load of spherical Al 2 O 3 particles are required. However, if the filler cannot be uniformly dispersed in the matrix and has good compatibility with the ma...