High thermal and electrical properties of electroless graphene films reinforced Cu matrix laminated composites

The focus of this study is to fabricate thermal management materials integrating thermal and electrical structural and functional materials by preparing graphene film reinforced Cu laminated composites. Strengthening the interface is a core scientific issue. Graphene is considered a good reinforcement phase because of its excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. The production route includes electroless Cu coating on graphene film and ball milling Cu powder into Cu flake. Due to the particularity of the film and the Cu flake through vacuum hot pressing sintering, laminated composite materials can be obtained. The transfer of electrons and internal energy within a material determines the electrical and thermal conductivity of the material. With the increase of content of graphene films, electrical properties of laminated composites and thermal conductivity on the plane direction increase, while the thermal conductivity on thickness direction decreases. The best thermal conductivity and electric conductivity can reach 457 W m−1 K−1 and 175 MS/m, respectively. However, when the graphene films contents exceed 30 vol%, the thermal conductivity in the plane direction decreases due to the severe interfacial cracks. In summary, copper coating on the graphene films surfaces can generally improve the interfacial bonding and thermal properties of laminated composites. It provides an effective method to perform the development of novel thermal management structures and functional materials.