Evaluation and enhancement of thermal transport characteristics of metal composites and contact interface

Abstract

In this study, effort has been made in the evaluation and enhancement of thermal transport characteristics of metal matrix composites and contact interfaces. The thermal management systems are important in today s faster growing industrial needs which are demanding the high end processors with highest speed and reliability of performance. The thermal management systems are used for applications like central processing unit (CPU) cooling, cooling of electronics circuit boards, cooling of mechanical and automobile systems like engine cooling. However, this work focuses on thermal management systems related to CPU cooling. newlineThe thermal management systems in CPU cooling consist of a CPU and a heat sink in general. Generally, the heat sink is attached to the CPU by the manufacturer mechanically. There is possibility of high stress inducement in the CPU due to mechanical fastening and the heat transfer is not effective as there will be a 100% surface to surface contact. Also there is a high possibility of shorting of electronic circuitry of the CPU due to the high conductivity of the heat sink material. newlineIn order to overcome these problems, effort is made to resolve the problem by two approaches, namely, by developing the metal matrix composites to match with the required properties of the heat source and the other approach is by developing new contact resistance models. newlineIn this study, initially, the importance and motivation behind the evaluation of the thermal characteristics for the MMC s as well as TIMs. Various methodologies of manufacture of the MMC s are discussed along with the advantages and limitations. The newlinex newlinereinforcements in MMC s are explained in details and the corresponding materials are listed. Thermal contact resistance in heat transfer applications are presented with examples. The heat transfer phenomenon at the interfaces is detailed with the classification based on contact criteria. newlineNext, literature available in the area of metal matrix composites in thermal management was presented. The literatures r