Thermal performance analysis of aluminum, copper, and graphene nanoplatelets-doped nanocomposite heat sinks manufactured via stereolithography

Abstract

The increase in the performance of electronic components causes more heat increase, which leads researchers to different products and different production methods for the heat sink (HS) designs used to cool them. This study focuses on the production of an HS with features such as faster production, lower cost, lighter production, and faster design by trying a new production method. In this study, four different geometries of the nanocomposite heat sink (HS) were successfully produced by stereolithographic. Three different nano-powders (nano-aluminum, nano-copper, and graphene-nanoplatelets) were added to the resin at a rate of 0.5% by weight. The produced 16 different nanocomposite HSs were analyzed for characterization. It was determined that they could be produced with a homogeneous distribution. The characterization of the produced nanocomposite HSs was analyzed. In addition, experimental and simulated findings were examined in terms of thermal performance. Experimental and simulation data have shown that angled and channel heat sinks have a superior design. Nanocomposite heat sinks doped with graphene performed much better than others. Nanocomposite heat sinks performed up to 6.5% better than pure resin heat sinks. Including the geometry effect, the performance rises to 10.7%, which means that the maximum junction temperature (Tj,max) of an LED lamp can be improved by about 11%. Thus, a smaller or lighter product option has come to the fore. This production technique may also be used to create complex heat sinks or thermal interface materials (TIM) for special applications. When limiting variables are eliminated, it will be feasible in the future to build HSs that are more effective.