Kemerli U.Joshi Y.2024-06-122024-06-1220239.79835E+121936-3958https://doi.org/10.1109/ITherm55368.2023.10177610https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14551/1631522nd InterSociety Conference on Thermal and Thermomechanical Phenomena in Electronic Systems, ITherm 2023 -- 30 May 2023 through 2 June 2023 -- -- 190735Metal foams are promising materials for electronics cooling applications due to their high surface area-to-volume ratio. Their use in electronics cooling requires excellent contact between the heated surface and the foam, which is typically achieved using a thermal interface material (TIM). However, TIMs are typically designed for metal-to-metal interfaces and are not assessed for improving heat transfer at metal foam contacts. Thus, this study aims to reveal the performance of different TIMs when used with metal foams. An experimental setup is built where a metal foam is placed inside a rectangular channel and exposed to a constant heat flux. The thermal performance of the thermal gap pad, thermal epoxy applied to the heated surface, thermal epoxy applied to the strut ends, flexible graphite, and the condition of no TIM are assessed. A comprehensive investigation of the fluid flow and heat transfer in the metal foam for these configurations is also conducted numerically using local thermal non-equilibrium porous media equations. The numerically predicted thermal characteristics are compared with measurements. It is found that using in-plane thermally conductive TIMs can enhance heat transfer by around 18% for the same flow rate and pumping power. © 2023 IEEE.en10.1109/ITherm55368.2023.10177610info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessConvective Heat Transfer; Electronics Cooling; Metal Foam; Thermal Contact Resistance; Thermal Interface MaterialFlow Of Fluids; Heat Convection; Heat Flux; Heat Resistance; Interfaces (Materials); Metal Foams; Thermal Insulating Materials; Convective Heat Transfer; Cooling Applications; Electronics Cooling; Epoxy; Heated Surfaces; Metal Foams; Performance Comparison; Thermal; Thermal Contact Resistance; Thermal Interface Materials; Electronic CoolingConference Object2023-May2-s2.0-85166186033N/A