Fabrication and thermal conductivity of copper matrix composites reinforced by tungsten-coated carbon nanotubes

• Published in: International journal of minerals, metallurgy and materials Vol. 19; no. 5; pp. 446 - 452
• Main Authors: Nie, Jun-hui, Jia, Cheng-chang, Jia, Xian, Li, Yi, Zhang, Ya-feng, Liang, Xue-bing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Berlin Heidelberg University of Science and Technology Beijing 01.05.2012; Springer Nature B.V; China Iron & Steel Research Institute Group, Beijing 100081, China; School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China%School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
• Subjects: CARBON BASE MATERIALS; Carbon nanotubes; Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; COATINGS; Composites; Copper; Corrosion and Coatings; Dispersion; Effective medium theory; FABRICATION; Glass; Heat conductivity; HEAT TRANSFER; Materials Science; MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS; Metal matrix composites; Metallic Materials; Metallurgy; Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition; Nanotechnology; Natural Materials; Organic chemicals; Organic chemistry; Plasma sintering; REINFORCEMENT; Sintering (powder metallurgy); Spark plasma sintering; Surfaces and Interfaces; THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY; Thermal resistance; Thin Films; Tribology; TUBE; Tungsten; 制备; 化学气相沉积; 放电等离子烧结; 有效介质近似; 热传导; 碳纳米管; 钨涂层; 铜基复合材料; copper; tungsten; carbon nanotubes; thermal conductivity; spark plasma sintering; metallic matrix composites (MMCs)
• ISSN: 1674-4799; 1869-103X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12613-012-0577-3

Carbon nanotubes （CNTs） were coated by tungsten using metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Magnetic stirring was employed to disperse the W-coated CNTs （W-CNTs） in a Cu matrix, and then, the mixed powders were consolidated by spark plasma sintering. The W-CNTs obtained a uniform dispersion within the Cu matrix when the W-CNT content was less than 5.0vo1%, but high content of W-CNTs （10vol%） resulted in the presence of clusters. The W-CNT/Cu composites containing low content of W-CNTs （〈5.0vol%） exhibited a higher thermal conductivity than the sintered pure Cu, while the CNT/Cu composites exhibited no increase in thermal conductivity after the incorporation of uncoated CNTs. The W-CNT content was found to play a crucial role in determining the thermal conductivity of the W-CNT/Cu composites. The thermal conductivity of the W-CNT/Cu composites increased first and then decreased with the W-CNT content increasing. When the W-CNT content was 2.5vo1%, the W-CNT/Cu composite obtained the maximum value of thermal conductivity. The thermal resistance of the （W-CNT）-Cu interface was predicted in terms of Maxwell-Gamett effective medium approximation, and its calculated value was about 3.0× 10-9 m2.K.W-l.