Modelling of the microstructure and thermal conductivity of SiC-bonded diamond materials

Materials with high thermal conductivity are required in a wide range of thermal management applications. Silicon carbide (SiC) bonded diamond materials, which can be produced without pressure, are a possible candidate for such applications. They exhibit thermal conductivities >650 W/(m center dot K) depending on the diamond content, diamond grain size and residual silicon content. It is difficult to experimentally determine the influence of these factors on the thermal conductivity separately, as changing one of these parameters affects the other parameters. Therefore, a method for generating digital microstructures of SiC- bonded diamond materials was developed and the thermal conductivity was calculated as a function of the grain size These data were compared with real structures.