Speaker
René NAGEL
(ARC)
Description
The Powder Technology Center of the Austrian Research Centers GmbH is working since several years on
the development of materials with advanced thermal properties. Different Cu and Al based fiber or particle
reinforced composites have been studied. As reinforcement materials carbon fibers, carbon nanofibers (nanotubes),
SiC or diamond particles have been used to prepare materials with high thermal conductivity and reduced
coefficient of thermal expansion. Such materials are of interest for heat sinks or heat spreaders in electronic´s cooling.
One material with a high potential - but big challenges - are copper reinforced by carbon nanofibers.
Carbon nanofibers are a promising reinforcement material for copper based composites. The high thermal
conductivity of the carbon nanofibers (up to 2000 W/mK) is expected to improve the thermal properties of the
composite material. One main problem is the lack of any interfacial reaction between copper and carbon
based materials, which requires either a pre-treatment of the nanofibers and/or modification of the
matrix (e.g. via alloying). The influence of both possibilities on the thermal performance (thermal
diffusivity/conductivity and Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) of the material will be shown. In addition
microstructure analyses are carried out in order to assess the nanofiber distribution and the quality of the interface.
Primary author
René NAGEL
(ARC)
