Novel processing and characterization of Cu/CNF nanocomposite for high thermal conductivity applications

Enhancing the thermal conductivity and reducing the thermal expansion for electronic packaging applications can be achieved by compositing carbon nanofibers in copper-matrices. Though achieving these optimal thermal properties is theoretically possible, such composites are currently not available due to many unresolved practical problems. Conventional compositing processes are incapable of obtaining the desired fiber distribution while controlling the fiber–matrix interfaces for effective heat and load transfers. In this paper, three different powder metallurgy based processes are presented; two based on conventional techniques and the third a relatively new method. The first method is basically the conventional powder metallurgy process. The second and the third methods are also powder metallurgy processes with different ways of modifying the surface of the fibers using either electroless coating or the novel salt decomposition method. It is shown that the salt decomposition method is capable of achieving the desired high thermal conductivity values while the thermal expansion values remain the same in all the three processes.