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0.250" thick 25% dense Cu foam
Soldered to 0.040" Metalized AIN
Plate at 380°C

No noticeable change in the thermal performance after 1000 thermal cycles -55 to 125°C

Metal Foams and Heat Exchangers

Because of their unique properties, metal foam based heat exchangers, whether active or passive, provide the best solutions for high performance, low volume and weight applications.

Surface Area density:

Bulk Thermal Conductivity:
 Thermal conductivity of metal foams depend on the direction and magnitude of compression. The foam can be compressed in all three directions resulting in tailorable orthotropic conductivity.

As fabricated-bulk thermal conductivity [W / m-°C]: 12
Range [W / m-°C]: 12-45

High Mechanical compliance:
 Compliance of foam material is more than 2 orders magnitude higher than that of solid metal with the same dimensions. Therefore, we may directly attach metal foams to low expansion substrates (i.e. ceramic, silicon) to reduce the thermal resistance without introducing bowing and thermal fatigue problems.

Thermal test module:

Metal
Foam		 Surface area density
(in²/in³/% density)		 Range
(in²/in³)
10 ppi 2.8 8 - 125
20 ppi 5.3 40 - 240
30 ppi 7.5 60 - 350