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Interfacial thermal conductance of in situ aluminum-matrix nanocomposites

Journal of Materials Science volume 56, pages 13646–13658 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Thermal performance of Al nanocomposites is of significance for broad applications. In this study, we successfully fabricated Al–TiC, Al–ZrB2, and Al–TiB2 nanocomposites via a novel in situ molten-salt-assisted method and systematically investigated their thermal properties, including thermal diffusivity, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity. Different contributions from electron and phonon have been semi-quantitatively decoupled for interfacial thermal transport in these Al-based nanocomposites. Then, the interfacial thermal conductance between aluminum and the electrically conductive TiC, ZrB2, and TiB2 nanoparticles was quantitatively studied and compared with existing models. An engineering model of the interfacial thermal conductance has been proposed and validated. It was confirmed that a higher interfacial separation energy and more effective interfacial bonding by better wettability can be conducive to a higher interfacial thermal transport.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank MetaLi L.L.C for materials and equipment support. The proofreading from Mr. Narayanan Murali greatly improves the quality this manuscript. We would also like to thank Dr. Maximilian Sokoluk, Dr. Zeyi Guan and Dr. Gongcheng Yao for their useful comments and insightful suggestion. Besides, we also appreciate the characterization assistance from Prof. Yu Huang’s lab and Ph.D. student Haotian Liu. The first author would like to publish this paper in memory of his grandma, who passed away recently and whose characteristics and personalities have influenced him greatly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SciFacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Shuaihang Pan, Tianqi Zheng & Xiaochun Li

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Jie Yuan & Xiaochun Li

  3. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Zhenyu She

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  1. Shuaihang Pan
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Correspondence to Xiaochun Li.

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Pan, S., Yuan, J., Zheng, T. et al. Interfacial thermal conductance of in situ aluminum-matrix nanocomposites. J Mater Sci 56, 13646–13658 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-06176-7

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