Guiding heat in active thermal management: one-pot incorporation of interfacial nano-engineered aluminium/diamond composites into aluminium foams

Traditional metal foams, which are incapable to meet the heat dissipation demands of today’s electronics industry, were recently reformulated by the incorporation of thermal inclusions of graphite flakes that enhance their heat dissipation efficiency. In this work we manufacture, by means of a one-pot liquid metal infiltration synthesis, new layer-structured multicomponent materials that consist of aluminium foam components alternated with aluminium/diamond composite components. The thermal conductivity of aluminium/diamond components can substantially vary with processing conditions, which allow the nano-dimensional control of reaction products at the aluminium-diamond interface. The experimental and analytical results, plus finite element modelling, revealed that the low thermal resistance interface between components derived from the one-pot synthesis route, allowed multicomponent materials to significantly improve the thermal dissipation of traditional foams since aluminium/diamond components acted as effective thermal guides capable of transferring heat to the aluminium foam components where dissipation was achieved by forced convection.