ELABORATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A METAL-MATRIX COMPOSITE - AL ALN/

Metal matrix composites consisting of 56.5 vol% aluminum nitride in va rious aluminum matrices were manufactured. Through the selection of bo th reinforcement and matrix variables, the thermal properties of the c omposite were tailored to make it suitable for use in electronic packa ging. AlN reinforcement consists of pressed and partially sintered AlN powder to obtain preforms with adjustable porosity. Al-Si aluminum al loys were used as matrices, with Si content ranging from 0 to 22 wt%. The composite exhibits very attractive properties, including a relativ ely high thermal conductivity (100 W m(-1) K-1), a low coefficient of thermal expansion (9.10(-6) K-1 for an Al-22.5 wt% Si matrix) as well as a good specific strength. Basic models used to predict the thermal and mechanical properties of the composite show a good agreement betwe en theoretical and experimental data, except for thermal conductivity. For this last property, it is assumed that the matrix-reinforcement i nterface may have an important effect which is Mot taken into account in the theoretical model. Published by Elsevier Science Limited.