High Thermal Conductivity Composite Structures
Abstract
The work accomplished in this SBIR project demonstrated that the addition of boron nitride (BN) powder to a composite laminate significantly increases the through the thickness thermal conductivity (kz) of a composite laminate. The importance of this work is that the improved kz results in significantly lower operating temperatures for thermal applications such as composite thermal planes for advanced electronic applications and space based radiators. The advantage of this material compared to competing materials that it can be used to fabricate high strength, high thermal conductivity, relatively thin structures less than 0.050" thick. Typical graphite fiber reinforced composite thermal planes have an in-plane thermal conductivity (Kx & Ky) in the range 300-650 w/m/K, based on the fiber selection. But, the relatively low kz of a typical composite laminate significantly reduces the efficiency of the thermal plane due to the high impedance to getting heat in or out of the laminate. Finite element analysis of typical composite thermal planes shows that by increasing the kz from about 1 w/m/K for a typical laminate to about 4 w/m/K, as achieved in this project, results in temperature reductions in the order of 30%.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 20, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA371758
Entities
People
- John Bootle