Carbon Nanotubes Grown on Graphite Films as Effective Interface Enhancement for an Aluminum Matrix Laminated Composite in Thermal Management Applications

Uniform and dense carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown on the surface of the graphite film (GF) by a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process. The synthesized CNTs can act as a bridge between GF and Al matrix to enhance the interface performance and improve thermal properties of the GF/Al laminated composite simultaneously. A layer-by-layer CNTs–GF/Al composite with both increased mechanical property and thermal management capability was fabricated through an optimized pressure infiltration process, which was time- and energy-saving. The results show that the interface of the laminated composite is well bonded and no interface product such as Al4C3 is generated. Additional investigations reveal that the growth of CNTs is an effective way to improve the thermal conductivity and reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion of the GF reinforced Al composites. Overall, the best-performing CNTs–GF/Al composites with a CNTs–GF volume fraction of 51.42% show an increase of 47.99% in thermal conductivity and 26.44% in interlaminar shear strength, making them promising thermal management laminated materials.