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Fabrication and thermal conductivity of copper matrix composites reinforced by tungsten-coated carbon nanotubes

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Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were coated by tungsten using metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Magnetic stirring was employed to disperse the W-coated CNTs (W-CNTs) in a Cu matrix, and then, the mixed powders were consolidated by spark plasma sintering. The W-CNTs obtained a uniform dispersion within the Cu matrix when the W-CNT content was less than 5.0vol%, but high content of W-CNTs (10vol%) resulted in the presence of clusters. The W-CNT/Cu composites containing low content of W-CNTs (<5.0vol%) exhibited a higher thermal conductivity than the sintered pure Cu, while the CNT/Cu composites exhibited no increase in thermal conductivity after the incorporation of uncoated CNTs. The W-CNT content was found to play a crucial role in determining the thermal conductivity of the W-CNT/Cu composites. The thermal conductivity of the W-CNT/Cu composites increased first and then decreased with the W-CNT content increasing. When the W-CNT content was 2.5vol%, the W-CNT/Cu composite obtained the maximum value of thermal conductivity. The thermal resistance of the (W-CNT)-Cu interface was predicted in terms of Maxwell-Garnett effective medium approximation, and its calculated value was about 3.0×10−9 m2·K·W−1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jun-hui Nie, Cheng-chang Jia, Xian Jia, Yi Li, Ya-feng Zhang & Xue-bing Liang

  2. China Iron & Steel Research Institute Group, Beijing, 100081, China

    Yi Li

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  1. Jun-hui Nie
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  2. Cheng-chang Jia
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  3. Xian Jia
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  4. Yi Li
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Correspondence to Jun-hui Nie.

Additional information

This work was financially supported by the National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (No.2009AA03Z116) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.50971020).

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Nie, Jh., Jia, Cc., Jia, X. et al. Fabrication and thermal conductivity of copper matrix composites reinforced by tungsten-coated carbon nanotubes. Int J Miner Metall Mater 19, 446–452 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-012-0577-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-012-0577-3

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