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Development of advanced thermal interface materials (TIMs)

Project coordinator(s)

Dr. Tony Robinson
Email: [javascript protected email address]
Tel: +353 1 896 3919

Dr. Alan Lyons (Alcatel-Lucent Ireland)

Post-graduate Staff

Mr. Roger Kempers, MSc

Description

The interface between two solid surfaces which are in thermal communication can provide a significant blockage to heat transfer due to the inhomogeneous microstructures of the two surfaces. To mitigate against this there exists many technologies, called Thermal Interface Materials (TIMs) and gap-fillers that are sandwiched between the mating surfaces to improve the thermal contact and thus decrease the contact thermal resistance. In electronics thermal management applications, the contact resistance can account for nearly 50% of the available thermal budget. In this project a state-of-the-art experimental facility has been designed with a drastically improved experimental uncertainly threshold so that the thermal resistance of the next generation high-performance TIMs can be designed and characterized.

Funding Body

Alcatel-Lucent Ireland