Preparation of diamond/copper composites modified by Ti3C2Tx as interlayer with enhanced thermal conductivity

Abstract Thermal conductivity (TC) of diamond/copper (Dia/Cu) composite can be improved by surface metallization and matrix alloying, both of which still remain challenging in control of thickness and composition of carbide interlayer. Here, a two dimensional (2D) MXene (Ti3C2Tx) is selected as an interlayer for interfacial modification in the Dia/Cu composites. Microstructures and thermal properties of diamond/MXene/copper (Dia/MXene/Cu) composites are investigated. Morphology of fractured surface and relative density suggest that the MXene layer can improve the interface bonding in Dia/Cu composite. As results, the MXene layer at the Dia-Cu interface enhances the TC by 1.6-fold compared to the Dia/Cu composite without MXene modification. Besides, a sandwiched Dia/MXene/Cu model material is prepared to directly measure the interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) between diamond and Cu by a time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) technique. Quantitative results show that the ITC of Dia/MXene/Cu is 18.6 MW/m2 K and it increases to 24.7 MW/m2 K after annealing, which is lower than that of Dia/Cu (35 MW/m2 K) counterpart. Both the interface bonding and ITC affect the overall TC in bulk Dia/Cu composite, and the improved interface bonding dominates in the enhancement of TC of Dia/MXene/Cu composite. This work proposes a novel approach for interfacial modification in Dia/Cu composites and sheds insight into the MXene for various applications.