Corrosion Behavior of Pressure Infiltration Diamond/Cu Composites in Neutral Salt Spray

Diamond particle-reinforced copper matrix composites (Diamond/Cu) are recognized as promising electronic packaging materials due to their excellent thermophysical properties. It is necessary to investigate the reliability of Diamond/Cu composites under extreme environmental conditions. The corrosion behavior of Diamond/Cu composites was studied in a 5 wt% NaCl neutral salt spray. Surface morphology, thermal conductivity, bending strength, corrosion rate, and corrosion depth resulting from corrosion were researched in this paper. The results showed that the corrosion phenomenon mainly occurs on the copper matrix, and the diamond and interface products do not corrode. The corrosion mechanism of Diamond/Cu composites was micro-galvanic corrosion. The corrosion product formed was Cu2Cl(OH)3. The salt spray environment had a great influence on the composite surface, but the composite properties were not significantly degenerated. After a 168-h test, the bending strength was unaltered and the thermal conductivity of gold-plated composites showed a slight decrease of 1–2%. Surface gold plating can effectively improve the surface state and thermal conductivity of Diamond/Cu composites in a salt spray environment.