High thermal conductivity of GF@Cu@Ni/Si/Al composites reinforced with Cu and Ni co-deposited graphite flakes

Thermal management of Al composites is a crucial issue to keep the promising performance and excellent reliability of the devices. We revealed a novel method to enhance the surface property of graphite flakes (GF) with Cu and Ni coatings by chemical plating way. Taking advantage of Cu and Ni co-doped GF and silicon powders, the GF@Cu@Ni/Si/Al composites were fabricated by vacuum pressure infiltration method. The GF@Cu-30@Ni-10 composites revealed about 2 times larger TC (474.4 W/m.K) and lower CTE 6.22 ppm/K than neat Al. Our strategy for highly TC offers not only the advanced process for dispersing reinforcements but also an extremely simple way for the anisotropic composites with high TC and low CTE.