SBIR Phase I: Low-Cost Hot Press Die Casting of Graphite-Metal Materials

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a hot press die casting technology to be used in the production of graphite-metal materials. In the proposed work, graphite preform and metal will be placed in a multi-chamber graphite die set and loaded into a hot press. Following evacuation of the die set and heating to the desired melt temperature, the die set mold with graphite preform and molten metal will be held under presuure and temperature for a specified period of time till complete graphite surface carbide reaction and densification of the part occur. The as-cast microstructure and thermal properties of the graphite-metal part will be subsequently evaluated as a function of various process variables including time, temperature and pressure. The proposed casting technology will allow the manufacture of cost-effective graphite-metal materials that offer improved thermal properties crititcal to enabling thermal management solutions for high power electronics packaging applications. In addition, this casting technology will result in a cost reduction for cast graphite-metal materials of up to 40%.