Gr Foam/Cu Composite for Thermal Management

"Major obstacles to TMD and NMD system implementation are the current limitations of thermal management materials and cooling technologies. An innovative thermal management material concept providing high thermal conductivity and improved coefficient ofthermal expansion matching for high power electronic cooling applications is proposed. The improved material system provides higher heat flux operation, yet maintains the junction temperature of the critical electronic components and provides a robustmaterial design. Devices such as laser diodes, T/R modules and high-power electronic components can utilize this innovative material system to significantly improve performance. The new material system provides enhanced thermal capability for a broadrange of military systems as well as commercial components. The material concept provides a mass-efficient and highly effective thermal management approach to address critical technology needs.A composite of copper and high thermal conductivity graphite foam can be tailored to approach the thermal expansion of any semiconductor, and to exceed the thermal conductivity of even pure copper. The proposed study will establish feasibility byfabricating test articles using different types of high conductivity graphite foams and infiltrating them with molten copper. The thermal conductivity and thermal expansion of the resulting composite materials will be measured. The high heat flux material sy