Heat Transfer Interface to Graphitic Foam

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) used for bonding components are important for creating a thermally conductive path which improves heat dissipation. Low density, porous carbon foams are commonly used for thermal management applications and devices. Their high surface area to volume ratio enables cooling more effectively via different heat transfer methods. Many studies have adopted different methods to analytically or computationally analyze the effective thermal conductivity of carbon foams. Others have studied the participation of TIMs used in composite materials. However, very few studies have analyzed the microscale effects in heat transfer of the interaction between TIM and carbon foams. The amount of contact between a carbon foam and a bonded surface has hardly been reported in the literature. In this study, the carbon foam is deposited with thin layers of graphene until reaching the desired foam density; this type of foam is known as the graphitic foam. Graphene’s highly anisotropic thermal properties result in high thermal conductivity in the planar direction but low in the normal direction. With these anisotropic thermal characteristics, the objective of this study is to determine the effect of TIM thickness on thermal conductivity of the graphitic foam. It was hypothesized that the direction which heat enters the graphitic foam and the size of the cross-sectional area normal to the heat flux direction would affect the overall effective thermal conductivity. As commonly known, a gap created between ligands (foam structure) and the bonded surface would likely reduce the overall effective thermal conductivity. At the gap, heat is transferred via the TIMs or the graphitic foam through conduction, depending on if a direct contact exists between the graphitic foam and the bonded surface. The filler types used for the TIMs are hypothesized to play a critical role in the heat portion transferred via the TIMs. The heat transfer in 2-D becomes extremely complicated while anisotropic materials (graphene coating) and isotropic materials (TIMs) interact. Furthermore, the non-uniform structure of the carbon foam introduces more complexity to the heat transfer at the interface. A computational model using ANSYS finite element program was developed in this study to help the analysis. The results demonstrate that the parameters at the interface can be optimized to improve the overall effective thermal conductivity of the interface.