Papers by Author: Sebastien Vaucher

Abstract: Particle reinforced metal matrix composites are developed for heat sink applications. For power electronic devices like IGBT modules (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) a baseplate material with high thermal conductivity combined with a low coefficient of thermal expansion is needed. Commonly AlSiC MMC are used with a high volume content of SiC particles (~ 70 vol.%). To improve the performance of these electronic modules particle reinforced materials with a higher thermal conductivity are developed for an advanced thermal management. For this purpose highly conducting diamond particles (TC ~ 1000 W/mK) are embedded in an Al matrix. These new diamond reinforced MMC were investigated concerning their thermal fatigue mechanisms compared to the common AlSiC MMC. Differences in reinforcement architecture and their effects on thermal fatigue damage were studied by in situ synchrotron tomography during thermal cycling.

Abstract: Thermal management materials frequently have multi-phase composite character with complex architecture of the constituents. As a result, design rules are needed which can be used in selection of the phases and optimizing their volume fractions. The study shows that such are provided by finite element modeling of these composites. This is demonstrated for a diamond-SiC-Si-(Al) composites, which have been optimized in terms of the volume fraction of SiC, contact area between the components and presence of open porosity.