Governing the Inclination Angle of Graphite Flakes in the Graphite Flake/Al Composites by Controlling the Al Particle Size via Flake Powder Metallurgy

Abstract

The inclination angle of the flake particle has a significant impact on the in-plane thermal conductivity of composites. The graphite flake/Al composites (50 vol%) with different inclination angles were fabricated via flake powder metallurgy, and the results show that with increasing the size of Al particle from 25.6 to 50.7 μm, the inclination angle of graphite flake decreases from 7.3° to 4.4°, while the in-plane thermal conductivity of composites increases from 473 to 555 Wm−1 K−1. Based on the rules of mixture, an effective model was established to qualify and quantify the relation between the inclination angle and the in-plane thermal conductivity of the corresponding composites. This model can also be applied to other flake particle-reinforced composites.