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Ultrasonic-assisted soldering for graphite films as heat sinks with durably superior heat dissipating efficiency

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Abstract

Graphite film (GF) is considered as an unrivaled candidate of heat sink in thermal management applications. The inappropriate thermal interface material (TIM), however, could severely restrain the application of GF as heat sink. In this study, GF heat sink was assembled with SAC305 (Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu, wt. %) solder through ultrasonic-assisted soldering approach. Due to ultrasonic effects, the soldered interface for heat transfer exhibited compact structure. The forming of Ag3Sn and Cu6Sn5 nanoparticles at interface could improve the interfacial coefficient gradient of thermal expansion. Comparing to traditional thermally conducted packaging method, soldering-assembled GF heat sinks exhibited excellent cooling efficiency, which could be maintained after more than 50 thermal cycles from 0 to 100 °C, and after thermal aging treatments for over 48 h under 150 °C in air. In the mechanical performance tests, the ultrasonic-assisted soldered GF joints showed high structural stability. These findings reinforce the significant potential of ultrasonic-assisted soldered GFs in thermal management.

Graphical abstract

Assembly of graphite film (GF) heat sink was realized by employing SAC305 solders as TIMs with ultrasonic-assisted soldering approach. The high thermal conductivity of GF and SAC305, compact thermal conduction interface and improved interfacial coefficient gradient of thermal expansion, endowed GF heat sink with durably excellent heat dissipating efficiency, high structural stability, indicating its significant potential in thermal management applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. Zhi Zhang from Huazhong University of Science and Technology for the TEM characterization of interface structure. The authors thank Dr. Xiaoqing Liu from Center for Materials Research and Analysis of Wuhan University of Technology for the data analysis of TEM.

Funding

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51605357) and 2018 National Key R&D Program of China 257.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Huaqiang Fu, Yong Xiao & Dan Li

  2. Hubei Engineering Research Center of RF-Microwave Technology and Application, School of Science, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Peng Li, Wei Qian, Xin Zhao & Daping He

  3. State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Daping He

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  1. Huaqiang Fu
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  2. Yong Xiao
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  3. Peng Li
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  4. Wei Qian
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  5. Dan Li
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  6. Xin Zhao
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  7. Daping He
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Contributions

Y. X. and D. H. conceived the project. H. F., Y. X., and D. L. designed and performed the ultrasonic-assisted soldering of graphite films. H. F., P. L., and W. Q. performed the characterizations and carried out the mechanical performance test. H. F. carried out the test on thermal dissipating performance of GF heat sink using different TIMs. H. F. wrote the paper. Y. X., X. Z., and D. H. revised the paper.

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Correspondence to Yong Xiao or Daping He.

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Fu, H., Xiao, Y., Li, P. et al. Ultrasonic-assisted soldering for graphite films as heat sinks with durably superior heat dissipating efficiency. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 5, 2154–2162 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-021-00255-8

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