Development of novel metallic micro-droplet based composites: Experimental analysis and Computational modeling

Composite materials are used in numerous industries and for multiple product categories. Nowadays, it is increasingly being recognized that new applications for materials require functions and properties that are not achievable by monolithic materials. Combining dissimilar materials for these new applications create interfaces whose properties and processing need to be understood to bridge the gap between the composite material microstructure and the end-product. The purpose of the proposed project is to develop a novel composite material formed by high thermal conductivity metallic micro-droplets (like aluminum and magnesium and their alloys) dispersed within a matrix such as polymer and ceramics (such as alumina) having low thermal conductivity. These composites are expected to attract much attention due to a singular combination of properties (including thermal, mechanical, optical, electrical and magnetic properties), which would make them excellent candidates to fabricate multifunctional devices with unique features. A pneumatic droplet-on-demand generator will be used to synthesize various shaped low melting point micro-metallic droplets (for example aluminum, and magnesium) in collaboration with Center of Advanced Coating Technologies (CACT), University of Toronto Canada, which will be used as fillers in the polymeric/ceramic matrices. Through experimental work, a technological route for manufacturing, material characterization and testing of microdropletceramic or/and microdroplet-polymer matrix composites using SPS will be developed. A computational methodology will also be developed to predict the effective thermal conductivity of the proposed metallic micro-droplet based composites as a function of droplet size, shape, properties and volume fraction.