Experimental and CFD Investigation of the Thermal Performance of Graphite-Coated Aluminum Plate Heat Sinks

Nabeel  Abdulhadi Ghayadh

doi:10.30572/2018/KJE/170341

Authors

Nabeel Abdulhadi Ghayadh Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kufa University, 54002, Najaf, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30572/2018/KJE/170341

Keywords:

Graphite coating, Aluminum plate heat sink, Thermal performance, Forced convection, CFD simulation

Abstract

Because next-generation electronic devices are compact and have high power densities, efficient cooling techniques are required to improve a heat sink's thermal performance and keep the temperature at a safe level. A graphite layer was applied to the aluminium substrate. Two aluminum specimens were prepared for testing; one has a graphite covering, while the other specimen is left uncoated for comparison. A wind tunnel was developed to study the heat transfer coefficient to comprehend the performance of the Al heat sink coated with graphite. To replicate the energy produced by a heat sink, a plate electrical heater is affixed to the specimen's bottom. The distribution of body temperature, thermal transmittance, and Nusselt number with four Reynolds number values under turbulent flow conditions for each sample was examined experimentally and numerically using a three-dimensional CFD-solid-mechanics model. The findings demonstrated that graphite enhances thermal performance. An improvement of approximately almost 15.2% in Nusselt number and 38% in thermal transmittance was observed compared to the uncoated case, with the graphite-coated sample exhibiting the most effective thermal dissipation and the uncoated sample exhibiting the worst

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Al-Baghdadi, M.A.S. (2020) Graphene Coating for Efficient Electronics Cooling. MDPI, Encyclopedia, Switzerland, pp.1-12.

Bhatti, M.S. (1987) Turbulent and transition flow convective heat transfer in ducts. Handbook of single-phase convective heat transfer.

Bilen, K., Akyol, U. and Yapici, S. (2001) 'Heat transfer and friction correlations and thermal performance analysis for a finned surface', Energy Conversion and Management, 42(9), 1071-1083.

Cermak, M., Kenna, J., and Bahrami, M., 2017, March. Natural-graphite-sheet based heat sinks. In 2017, 33rd Thermal Measurement, Modeling & Management Symposium (SEMI-THERM) (pp. 310-313) IEEE.

Hadi, A.M., Ismael, M.A. and Alhattab, H.A. (2021) 'Improvement of heat sink performance using graphite and graphene coating', Basrah J. Eng. Sci, 21(1), 50-55.

Icoz, T. and Arik, M. (2009) 'Light weight high performance thermal management with advanced heat sinks and extended surfaces', IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies, 33(1), 161-166.

Jones, C.D. and Smith, L.F. (1970) 'Optimum arrangement of rectangular fins on horizontal surfaces for free-convection heat transfer', Journal of Heat Transfer, 92(1), 6-10.

Kareem J. Alwan, Radhwan A. Flayyih, Mohammed K. Khashan, Nawfel M. Baqer and Muna S. Kassim (2025) 'Enhancement of heat transfer numerically by inserting helical coiled wire inside tube flow', Kufa Journal of Engineering, 16(4), 179-190.

Maher A.R. Sadiq Al-Baghdadi (2020) 'Experimental and CFD study on the dynamic thermal management in smartphone and using graphene nano sheets coating as an effective cooling technique', International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), 11(2), 97-106.

Manno, M., Yang, B., Khanna, S., McCluskey, P. and Bar-Cohen, A. (2015) 'Microcontact-enhanced thermoelectric cooling of ultrahigh heat flux hotspots', IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology, 5(12), 1775-1783.

Moffat, R.J. (1985) 'Using uncertainty analysis in the planning of an experiment', Journal of Fluids Engineering, 107(2), 173-178.

Murtadha A. Hanoon, Mohsen H. Farj. and Kameel, S.Mekki (2025) 'Enhancement of heat transfer numerically by inserting helical coiled wire inside tube flow', Kufa Journal of Engineering, 16(3), 1-21.

Ning Li, Yibo Zhang, Yawei Xu, Jing Li. (2025) Graphene/epoxy coating with radiation heat dissipation properties for spacecraft thermal management, Chemical Engineering Journal, 519(September).

Premkumar M., Santhanakrishnan R., Arulprakasajothi M. and Suresh V. (2024) Heat Dissipation Effects of Different Nano coated Lateral Fins An Experimental Investigation. THERMAL SCIENCE. 28( 1A), pp. 293-305.

Raad H. Abed. and Nabeel A. Ghyadh (2024) 'INVESTIGATION OF HYBRID PHOTOVOLTAIC /THERMAL SOLAR SYSTEM PERFORMANCE UNDER IRAQ'S CLIMATE CONDITIONS', Kufa Journal of Engineering, 15(1), 1-18.

Sabatino, D. and Yoder, K. (2014) 'Pyrolytic graphite heat sinks: A study of circuit board applications', IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology, 4(6), 999-1009.

Sahin, B. and Demir, A. (2008) 'Thermal performance analysis and optimum design parameters of heat exchanger having perforated pin fins', Energy conversion and management, 49(6), 1684-1695.

Şara, O.N. (2003) 'Performance analysis of rectangular ducts with staggered square pin fins', Energy Conversion and Management, 44(11), 1787-1803.

Sarvar, F., Whalley, D.C. and Conway, P.P., 2006, September. Thermal interface materials-A review of the state of the art. In (2006) 1st electronic systemintegration technology conference (Vol. 2, pp. 1292-1302) IEEE.

Shahil, K.M. and Balandin, A.A. (2012) 'Thermal properties of graphene and multilayer graphene: Applications in thermal interface materials', Solid state communications, 152(15), 1331-1340.

Tsai, W.Y., Huang, G.R., Wang, K.K., Chen, C.F. and Huang, J.C. (2017) 'High thermal dissipation of Al heat sink when inserting ceramic powders by ultrasonic mechanical coating and armoring', Materials, 10(5), 454.