Thermal properties of copper-coated carbon foams

Carbon foams, with 97% porosity, were electroplated with copper for different periods of time to achieve desired copper thicknesses and foam porosity. A light flash diffusivity instrument was used to measure the thermal conductivity of the coated samples. An analytical model was developed to calculate the effective thermal conductivity of the coated foams. It was observed that the copper-coated carbon foam with 50% porosity can attain a thermal conductivity of 180 W/m K. The results from the analytical model were compared to the experimental results and they were in a very good agreement. The above analyses demonstrated the significance of copper coating in tailoring carbon foam thermal properties. The developed analytical model was adopted to predict the thermal conductivity of the copper-coated carbon foams.