Fabrication and performance evaluation of a polymer-based vapor chamber via 3D printing technology

Abstract

The advancement in flexible electronic devices has led to continuously increasing power density, which generates a large amount of heat during operation. Based on the advantages of excellent thermal conductivity and temperature uniformity, vapor chambers have been considered as an effective solution for solving the problem of high-performance electronics heat dissipation. In this work, we proposed a polymer-based vapor chamber with micro-grooves fabricated using 3D printing technology, which is a facile method for integrating and manufacturing the external shell structure and inner wick structure within the vapor chamber. Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) are chosen as the 3D printed materials, allowing the fabricated vapor chamber a certain degree of flexibility. DI water as working fluid is injected into this fabricated polymer-based vapor chamber and various filling ratios are evaluated for its effect on the heat transfer capability. The experimental results show that 30 % is the optimal filling ratio, presenting the lowest thermal resistance of 2.11 K/W at a heating flux of 1.5 W/cm², and the dry-out heat flux is 1.63 W/cm². In addition, the polymer-based vapor chamber exhibits excellent temperature uniformity with a minimum surface temperature difference of 1.99 °C, which achieves the dispersion of local heat and the elimination of local hotspots. The fabricated polymer-based vapor chamber proposed in this work not only enables the effective thermal management of flexible electronic devices and wearable electronic products but also provides an alternative method for the design and manufacture of thermal management devices.