Noncured Graphene Thermal Interface Materials: Minimizing the Thermal Contact Resistance

TL;DR

This study experimentally investigates how graphene loading and surface roughness affect thermal contact resistance in noncuring graphene thermal interface materials, highlighting the importance of optimizing these parameters for effective thermal management in electronics.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on the non-monotonic relationship between graphene loading, surface roughness, and thermal contact resistance, guiding optimization of thermal interface materials.

Findings

Thermal contact resistance minimizes at ~15 wt.% graphene loading.

Surface roughness increase doubles the thermal contact resistance.

Optimal graphene loading depends on surface roughness for best thermal performance.

Abstract

We report on experimental investigation of thermal contact resistance of the noncuring graphene thermal interface materials with the surfaces characterized by different degree of roughness. It is found that the thermal contact resistance depends on the graphene loading non-monotonically, achieving its minimum at the loading fraction of ~15 wt.%. Increasing the surface roughness by ~1 micrometer results in approximately the factor of x2 increase in the thermal contact resistance for this graphene loading. The obtained dependences of the thermal conductivity, thermal contact resistance, and the total thermal resistance of the thermal interface material layer on the graphene loading and surface roughness indicate the need for optimization of the loading fraction for specific materials and roughness of the connecting surfaces. Our results are important for developing graphene technologies for thermal management of high-power-density electronics.