Enhancing through thickness thermal conductivity of ultra-thin composite laminates. Final report

The materials used in electronic applications have specific requirements for stiffness, thermal conductivity, and electromagnetic shielding making the choice of materials used very important. Electronic components are very sensitive to heat, hence the heat dissipation or cooling of the various components is necessary to prevent failure. Thus, any material used in the electronic industry must have a high thermal conductivity in addition to a specified thermal expansion, stiffness and strength properties. The purpose of this project was to design and manufacture composite panels which would conduct heat from an electronic chip attached to the top surface to a cooling liquid flowing at its lower surface. To maximize the heat conducted from the chip to the cooling liquid, the composite must have a high through thickness thermal conductivity. Further, design restrictions on the thickness of the composite panel had to be taken into account. It was found that the presence of excess resin adversely affects the conductivity of a woven fabric composite due to which the through thickness conductivity of the 400 {micro}m thick panel was better than the 500 {micro}m thick panel. The through thickness conductivity of the panel with short fibers alone was better than that of the woven cloth panel. The finite element model developed for a priori prediction of the through thickness thermal conductivity of the composite panels is a very powerful tool that can save enormous prototyping times an associates coats