R. Couturier et al., ELABORATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A METAL-MATRIX COMPOSITE - AL ALN/, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 17(15-16), 1997, pp. 1861-1866
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.