High resolution steady-state measurements of thermal contact resistance across thermal interface material junctions

2017 ◽  
Vol 88 (9) ◽  
pp. 094901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald J. Warzoha ◽  
Brian F. Donovan
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Thermal Interface Material ◽  
Thermal Interface

scholarly journals Noncured Graphene Thermal Interface Materials for High-Power Electronics: Minimizing the Thermal Contact Resistance

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1699
Author(s):  
Sriharsha Sudhindra ◽  
Fariborz Kargar ◽  
Alexander A. Balandin
Keyword(s):  
Contact Resistance ◽  
High Power ◽  
Thermal Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Wide Band ◽  
Thermal Interface Material ◽  
Thermal Interface Materials ◽  
Total Thermal Resistance ◽  
Thermal Interface ◽  
Interface Materials

We report on experimental investigation of thermal contact resistance, RC, of the noncuring graphene thermal interface materials with the surfaces characterized by different degree of roughness, Sq. It is found that the thermal contact resistance depends on the graphene loading, ξ, non-monotonically, achieving its minimum at the loading fraction of ξ ~15 wt %. Decreasing the surface roughness by Sq~1 μm results in approximately the factor of ×2 decrease in the thermal contact resistance for this graphene loading. The obtained dependences of the thermal conductivity, KTIM, thermal contact resistance, RC, and the total thermal resistance of the thermal interface material layer on ξ and Sq can be utilized for optimization of the loading fraction of graphene for specific materials and roughness of the connecting surfaces. Our results are important for the thermal management of high-power-density electronics implemented with diamond and other wide-band-gap semiconductors.

Characterization of Thermal Contact Resistance in Metal Micro-Textured Thermal Interface Materials Using Electrical Contact Resistance Measurements

2010 ◽  
Vol 297-301 ◽  
pp. 1190-1198 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kempers ◽  
A.J. Robinson ◽  
A. Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Electrical Contact ◽  
Applied Pressure ◽  
Thermal Interface Material ◽  
Metal Foil ◽  
Electrical Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Interface ◽  
Thermally Conductive

A novel Metal Micro-Textured Thermal Interface Material (MMT-TIM) has been developed to address a number of shortcomings in conventional TIMs. This material consists of a thin metal foil with raised micro-scale features that plastically deform under an applied pressure thereby creating a continuous, thermally conductive, path between the mating surfaces. One of the difficulties in experimentally characterizing MMT-TIMs however, is distinguishing the bulk thermal resistance of the MMT-TIM from the thermal contact resistance that exists where it contacts the test apparatus. Since these materials are highly electrically conductive, this study attempts to employ electrical contact resistance measurements to estimate their thermal contact resistance. Tests using flat silver and gold specimens of known bulk thermal conductivity were used to develop a correlation between electrical and thermal contact resistance. This relationship was then employed to estimate the thermal contact resistance of a prototype silver MMT-TIM and indicates the thermal contact resistance accounts for approximately 10% of the measured thermal contact resistance. A number of issues related to this technique are discussed as well as its future outlook.

Characterization of Thermal Contact Resistance Doped with Thermal Interface Material

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 943-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iswor Bajracharya ◽  
Yoshimi Ito ◽  
Wataru Nakayama ◽  
Byeong-Jun Moon ◽  
Sun-Kyu Lee
Keyword(s):  
Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Thermal Interface Material ◽  
Thermal Interface

Modeling and Experimental Characterization of Metal Microtextured Thermal Interface Materials

2013 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kempers ◽  
A. M. Lyons ◽  
A. J. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Resistance ◽  
Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Thermal Interface Material ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Thermal Interface Materials ◽  
Thermal Interface ◽  
Main Challenge

A metal microtextured thermal interface material (MMT-TIM) has been proposed to address some of the shortcomings of conventional TIMs. These materials consist of arrays of small-scale metal features that plastically deform when compressed between mating surfaces, conforming to the surface asperities of the contacting bodies and resulting in a low-thermal resistance assembly. The present work details the development of an accurate thermal model to predict the thermal resistance and effective thermal conductivity of the assembly (including contact and bulk thermal properties) as the MMT-TIMs undergo large plastic deformations. The main challenge of characterizing the thermal contact resistance of these structures was addressed by employing a numerical model to characterize the bulk thermal resistance and estimate the contribution of thermal contact resistance. Furthermore, a correlation that relates electrical and thermal contact resistance for these MMT-TIMs was developed that adequately predicted MMT-TIM properties for several different geometries. A comparison to a commercially available graphite TIM is made as well as suggestions for optimizing future MMT-TIM designs.

On Simple Prediction Method for Thermal Contact Resistance Between Wavy Surfaces With Thermal Interface Material Under Low Mean Nominal Contact Pressure (Fundamental Study Based on 1-D Model)

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshio Tomimura ◽  
Yasushi Koito ◽  
Taewan Do ◽  
Masaru Ishizuka ◽  
Tomoyuki Hatakeyama
Keyword(s):  
Contact Resistance ◽  
Contact Pressure ◽  
Thermal Contact Resistance ◽  
Thermal Contact ◽  
Thermal Interface Material ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Contact Interface ◽  
Fundamental Study ◽  
Thermal Interface ◽  
Wavy Surfaces

The thermal contact resistance (TCR) is the crucial issue in the field of heat removal from systems like electronic equipment, satellite thermal control systems, and so on. To cope with the problem, a lot of studies have been done mainly for flat rough surfaces. However, as pointed out so far, there are still wide discrepancies among measured and predicted TCRs, even for similar materials. To investigate the key factors for the abovementioned discrepancies, a fundamental analysis was conducted in our previous study [1] using a simple contact surface model, which was composed of the unit cell model proposed by Tachibana [2] and Sanokawa [3]. Furthermore, by introducing a 2-D microscopic surface model, which consists of random numbers and Abbott’s bearing area curve, the effects of surface waviness and roughness on the temperature fields near the contact interface have been investigated microscopically [4]. In this study, based on a 1-D wavy surface model, a fundamental study has been conducted to predict TCR and the thermal contact conductance (TCC), which is a reciprocal of TCR, between wavy surfaces with the thermal interface material (TIM) under a relatively low mean nominal contact pressure of 0.1–1.0 MPa. From comparison between the calculated and measured results, it has been shown that, in spite of a simple 1-D analysis, the present model predicts the temperature drop at the contact interface, which is obtained as the product of TCR and the heat rate flowing through TIM, within some 10 to 60% error for a TIM with the thermal conductivity of 2.3 W/(m·K) and the initial thickness of 0.5, 1 and 2 mm.

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