Composite has ‘superior’ conductivity to copper

The material has been developed in a bid to deal with industrial applications where heat in devices with densely packed components needs to be dispersed evenly. The research was undertaken by the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research IFAM, together with industrial partners including Siemens and Plansee as part of an EU project "ExtreMat". IFAM's project manager, Dr Thomas Schunert revealed: "The resulting material expands no more than ceramics when heated, but has a conductivity one and a half times superior to copper. This is a unique combination of properties." Because of the difficulty of uniting copper and diamond, a third ingredient was required to chemically bond the materials. Schubert explained: "One ingredient we can use to achieve this is chrome. Even small amounts form a carbide film on the diamond serfuce and this film easily bonds to copper. The material could eventually replace traditional small copper or aluminium plates mounted underneath components to conduct heat away.