Design, Synthesis And Characterization Of Sintered Ni-Cu Wicks For Loop Heat Pipes

Miniaturization and higher performance of electronic devices correspond to the permanent trend of electronic market. High heat flux due to increasing dissipated power and decreasing volume has made thermal management a great limitation to the development of electronic industry. The successful application of Loop heat pipes (LHP) in spacecraft thermal management has provided the most promising answer for the challenging thermal management of next generation electronic systems. An LHP is a passive and robust two-phase heat transfer device. The robustness and high efficiency of LHP made them ideal candidates to meet the ever increasing thermal challenges of next generation electronic devices.The main goal of this research is to thoroughly investigate key component used in loop heat pipes:capillary wicks, which are designed, synthesized and characterized. The experimental platform for sintering the wicks, characterizing the porosity and thermal conductivity of the wicks are built. Wicks with the porosity from 50% to 70%, pore radius less than 1μn, effective thermal conductivity from 7 7 W/(m·K) to 15 W/(m·K) are synthesized.The contribution of this research is that:1) The first successful synthesis of Ni-Cu wicks in the world and exploration of optimal sintering parameters; 2) Characterization of the structure and thermophysical properties of Ni-Cu wicks. The fine pore, high porosity and low thermal conductivity would benefit the performance of LHPs.3) Discussion about the Cu-induced thermal conductivity reduction using X-ray diffraction test. This would provide the theoretical basis for further reduction of thermal conductivity of wicks.