Theoretical and predictive modeling of interfacial thermal conductance and thermal conductivity in graphite flake/Al composites

ABSTRACT

Graphite flake/Al composites are promising thermal management materials due to their lightweight and excellent thermal properties. The interface structure is a key factor that impacts the thermophysical properties. In this work, a prediction model based on the Hatta-Taya model and an extended diffusion mismatch model was developed to evaluate the effect of the interface structure on the interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) and thermal conductivity (TC) of graphite flake/Al composites. Although the model only approximates the ITC rather than precisely calculates it, the model can effectively predict the TC. The theoretical ITC between graphite and various materials can reach 10⁸ W/m²K. The TCs of graphite/Al composites with different interlayers decrease with increasing interlayer thickness but at different rates. Interface layers with high TCs, such as Cu, W, SiC, Si and WC, have good TC performance, regardless of their thickness. Among them, W layers are considered to be the most promising candidate to improve the TC of graphite/Al composites.

KEYWORDS:

• Modeling
• interface design
• thermal conductivity
• graphite flake
• Al matrix composites

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant [51704113], Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant [2018JJ3172] and the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department under Grant [17C0621].