Development of High Thermal Conductivity Copper Alloys with Diamond Particle Additions

Abstract

Novel copper-diamond materials containing particulate dispersions of diamond within a copper alloy matrix have been produced as ultra high thermal conductivity next-generation rocket nozzle liner materials. Synthesis techniques include hot pressing and spark plasma sintering, which are capable of scale up to full-size production parts. The materials have been evaluated for thermal cycling resistance and ease of manufacturing. The results indicate great promise of these materials and acceptable economics to replace existing state-of the-art monolithic copper alloys such as Gr Cop 84 and NARloyZ in high temperature thermal management applications.