Abstract
Heat sinks are commonly used for cooling electronic devices and high-power electrical systems. The ever-increasing performance of electronic systems together with miniaturization calls for better heat dissipation. Therefore, the heat sink materials should not only have high thermal conductivities, low densities, and cost, but also have coefficients of thermal expansion matching to those of semiconductor chips and ceramic substrates. As traditional materials fail to meet these requirements, new composite materials have been developed with a major focus on metal matrix composites (MMCs). MMCs can be tailored to obtain the desired combination of properties by selecting proper metallic matrix and optimizing the size and type, volume fraction, and distribution pattern of the reinforcements. Hence, the current review comprehensively summarizes different studies on enhancing the thermal performance of metallic matrices using several types of reinforcements and their combinations to produce composites. Special attention is paid to the types of commonly used metallic matrices and reinforcements, processing techniques adopted, and the effects of each of these reinforcements (and their combinations) on the thermal properties of the developed composite. Focus is also placed on highlighting the significance of interfacial bonding in achieving optimum thermal performance and the techniques to improve interfacial bonding.
Highlights
A composite presenting a combination of bulk thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion suitable for heat sink application was obtained by infiltrating liquid copper into graphite foam [94]
Graphite flakes were coated with copper while the carbon fibers were doped with nitrogen to improve their wettability in Al matrix and the composite was fabricated through the optimized vacuum gas pressure infiltration method
It can be observed that, in general, diamond reinforcement is effective in significantly reducing the coefficient of thermal expansion as compared to other reinforcements [116,119,123]
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Heat sinks are commonly used for cooling electronic devices and high-power electrical systems [1]. The advantages of the heat sink are low initial cost, simple installation, and a reliable manufacturing process [2,5] They are widely used in cooling of electronic equipment and/or components including microprocessors, power modules, lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), plasma and liquid crystal displays (LCDs and thermoelectric coolers (TECs) [4,6,7]. Since the semiconductor chips and ceramic substrate have low coefficients of thermal expansion (i.e., between 3 × 10−6 K−1 and 7 × 10−6 K−1) [11], heat sinks mustatalso match thosethan [6,7,11,21]. The focus of this review paper is to comprehensively summarize the types of commonly used reinforcements, processing techniques adopted, and the effects of each of these reinforcements (and their combinations) on the thermal properties of the developed composite
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
