Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) study in metal matrix composite of CuSiC Vs AlSiC

Abstract

Metal matrix composites are mostly used as advanced materials for thermal management applications. In high technology application demands, the materials with low CTE and high thermal conductivity are required. Copper Silicon Carbide (CuSiC) is highly rated as the best materials selection for this application because it has good thermal properties especially in CTE. Even though CuSiC composites has good in CTE, but it density is almost high for electronic device application. Aluminum silicon carbide (AlSiC) composites are a new candidate for electronic device application due to low density and also good in CTE. CuSiC and AlSiC composites were fabricated via powder metallurgy method by variety volume fraction which is 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. In the present scenario, the comparison of CTE between CuSiC and AlSiC composites with different volume fraction of SiC particles has been carried out. In this study, the CTE of the CuSiC and AlSiC composites were investigated and it response are studied between 25oC to 400oC using horizontal dilatometer. Based on experimental result, the density of CuSiC composites are decreases while density of AlSiC composites are increases with increasing of SiC particles content. However, the porosity for both composites are increases with increasing volume fraction of SiC particles. For CTE, both composites shown decreased with increasing of SiC particles content into copper and aluminum matrix. The experimental CTE values for CuSiC and AlSiC composites much lower than theoretical CTE value means that there have excellent bonding between each particles after sintering process. The particles distribution has been observed to know the homogeneity of SiC particles in copper and aluminum matrix