Performance Comparison of Microchannel Heat Sink Using Boron-Based Ceramic Materials

Microchannel heat sink plays a vital role in removing a considerable amount of heat flux from a small surface area from different electronic devices. In recent times, the rapid development of electronic devices requires the improvement of these heat sinks to a greater extent. In this aspect, the selection of appropriate substrate materials of the heat sinks is of vital importance. In this paper, three boron-based ultra-high temperature ceramic materials (ZrB2, TiB2, and HfB2) are compared as a substrate material for the microchannel heat sink using a numerical approach. The fluid flow and heat transfer are analyzed using the finite volume method. The results showed that the maximum temperature of the heat source didn’t exceed 355K at 3.6MWm-2 for any material. The results also indicated HfB2 and TiB2 to be more useful as a substrate material than ZrB2. By applying 3.6 MWm-2 heat flux at the source, the maximum obtained surface heat transfer coefficient was 175.2 KWm-2K-1 in a heat sink having substrate material HfB2.