Thermal conductivity enhancement of copper-diamond composites by sintering with chromium additive

The thermal diffusivity (TD) and thermal conductivity (TC) of Cu-Cr-diamond composite materials were examined in the temperature range from 50 to 300 A degrees C for diamond volume fractions of 22, 40, 50, 55, and 60 %. The samples were fabricated by the plasma pulse sintering (PPS) method. TC does not increase proportionally with the diamond fraction in the particular composite materials. The highest TD was determined for 50 % diamond volume fraction, and the evaluated TC reached 658 W m(-1) K-1 at 50 A degrees C. This article complements earlier articles concerning synthesis and characterization of the diamond-copper composites produced by the PPS method.