Modeling the thermal conductivity of diamond reinforced aluminium matrix composites with inhomogeneous interfacial conductance

A reasonable model for describing the thermal conductivity of diamond reinforced aluminium matrix composites behaving a distinctive character of inhomogeneous distribution of interfacial thermal conductance on diamond surfaces is proposed in terms of an equivalent diameter approach combined with a double effective-medium approximation scheme. Theoretical analyses for the thermal conductivity of diamond reinforced Al (Si) composites prepared by different infiltration techniques (squeeze casting (SQ), gas pressure infiltration (GPI)) are given for rediscovering the existing experimental results considering inhomogeneous conductance behavior. Numerical results using present model agree reasonably well with the experimental observations and explore new findings, i.e. the diffusion bonding also occurs at Al–diamond {1 1 1} interfaces of GPIed composites; the interconnected particles is possibly existed in GPIed Al/diamond composites.