Effects of titanium impregnation on the thermal conductivity of carbon/copper composite materials

Carbon/copper-based materials with high thermal conductivity and good stability at high temperatures were developed by adding a small amount of titanium. The isotropic fine-grained nuclear grade graphite and felt type C/C composite, which were impregnated by copper (10-18 vol.%) and titanium (0.5-0.8 vol.%), provided similar to 1.3 times higher thermal conductivity of 110 and 200 W/mK at 1200 K than the original carbon materials. Microstructural analyses showed that the increase of thermal conductivity is due to the formation of titanium compounds at the carbon/copper interface, and that the thermal energy would pass through both the carbon and copper. The present study indicates that addition of a small amount of a third element with a low enthalphy of alloy formation with carbon and copper will increase the thermal conductivity and the stability of carbon/copper-based materials. These carbon-based materials could be one of candidate materials for the plasma facing components of the fusion devices. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.