Effect of coating on the microstructure and thermal conductivities of diamond–Cu composites prepared by powder metallurgy

Diamond–Cu composites from the direct combination of diamond and Cu show low thermal conductivities due to weak interface and high thermal resistance as a result of chemical incompatibility. In this paper, a new method is proposed to strengthen interfacial binding between diamond and Cu by coating strong carbide-forming elements, e.g., Ti or Cr on the surface of the diamond through vacuum micro-deposition. Interfacial thermal resistance of diamond–Cu composites is greatly decreased when diamond particles are coated by a Cr or Ti layer of a certain thickness before combining with Cu. Thermal conductivity is also increased several times. Cr coating can reduce more effectively interface thermal resistance between diamond and Cu than Ti coating. Moreover, it has a smaller negative impact on the thermal conductivity of the Cu matrix, resulting in higher thermal conductivity of Cr-coated diamond–Cu composites. Through the vacuum micro-deposition technology, Cr on the diamond particle surface is present in the form Cr7C3 near diamond and a pure Cr outer layer at 2:1. The optimum thickness is within 0.6–0.9 μm; at this depth, the thermal conductivities of 70 vol% diamond–Cu composites can be increased four times and reach as high as 657 W/m K. In this work, an original theoretical model is proposed to estimate the thermal conductivities of composite materials with an interlayer of a certain thickness. The predicted values from this model are in good agreement with the experimental values.