A novel structural and functional integrated two-dimensional lamellar thermal management composite modified by silicon carbide nanowires

Abstract

With the significant increase in power density of high-power electronic devices, the efficient heat conduction and interface stability of thermal management materials have become the key bottlenecks restricting their performance. Here, a nanowire bridging multi-scale enhancement strategy was proposed: A three-dimensional network of silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs) is constructed on the surface of the graphite film through in-situ chemical vapor infiltration, forming a GF-SiC NWs multi-scale composite reinforcement. Furthermore, a structurally and functionally integrated GF-SiC NWs/Al lamellar composite was fabricated by the pressure impregnation method. The results showed that SiC NWs on graphite film can effectively solve the problem of poor interface compatibility between graphite film and aluminum. At the interface of the composite, the nanowires played a role of “pinning” between graphite film and aluminum matrix, which improved the interface bonding strength and thermal conductivity in both the XY and Z direction. The thermal conductivity of GF-SiC NWs/Al lamellar composites in XY direction was increased by 7 %, and the thermal conductivity in Z direction was increased by 75 %, comparing with that of GF/Al composites. The GF-SiC NWs/Al lamellar composite with enhanced interface bonding strength and thermal conductivity exhibited great potential in thermal management area.