Comparison between oxide-reduced and water-atomized copper powders used in making sintered wicks of heat pipe

Oxide-reduced copper powder can be produced efficiently at low cost. The volume shrinkage, porosity, maximum pore size, permeability and thermal conductivity of wicks sintered from two oxide-reduced (OR) powders were compared with one from water-atomized (WA) powder. The green specimens were sintered at temperatures from 800 to 1000 °C in a tube furnace under a reduction stream of 10% hydrogen and 90% argon. The results show that the property variations of OR − 100 and WA wicks due to porosity changes have a similar tendency and range. Nine hundred degree celsius is a recommended sintering temperature for producing ideal wicks for use in heat pipes. A smaller maximum pore size can be obtained by increasing the green density.