Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1635934 Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China 2014 10 Pages PDF
Abstract

Miniature cylindrical metal powder sintered wick heat pipe (sintered heat pipe) is an ideal component with super-high thermal efficiency for high heat flux electronics cooling. The sintering process for sintered wick is important for its quality. The sintering process was optimally designed based on the equation of the heat transfer limit of sintered heat pipe. Four-step sintering process was proposed to fabricate sintered wick. The sintering parameters including sintering temperature, sintering time, sintering atmosphere and sintering position were discussed. The experimental results showed that the proper sintering temperature was 950 °C for Cu powder of 159 μm and 900 °C for Cu powders of 81 and 38 μm, respectively, while the wick thickness was 0.45 mm and sintering time was 3 h. The optimized sintering time was 3 h for 0.45 and 0.6 mm wick thickness and 1 h for 0.75 mm wick thickness, respectively, when copper powder diameter was 159 μm and sintering temperature was 950 °C. Redox reduction reaction between H2 and CuO during sintering could produce segmentation cracks in Cu powders as a second structure. Sintering at vertical position can effectively avoid the generation of gap between wick and the inner wall of pipe.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Materials Science Metals and Alloys