Feasibility study of an aluminum vapor chamber with radial grooved and sintered powders wick structures

Abstract Vapor chambers are used for spreading and heat transfer because of phase change phenomena. In general, vapor chambers are made of high-conductive metal, such as copper. Aluminum is abundant element, and has low cost. The advantage of aluminum is that it is light, bendable, and easy to shape. The authors studied the feasibility of an aluminum vapor chamber to provide more low cost devices. Aluminum alloy 6061 was used as the container material to fabricate the aluminum vapor chamber with the radial grooved wick and sintered aluminum powders wick. Two types of aluminum vapor chambers were fabricated, both of which had the same dimensions of 58 mm × 58 mm × 6 mm; the working fluid was acetone. This study compared various charging amounts, and evaluated thermal resistance and temperatures at the bottom of the heat sink. A comparison of the two types of wick designs revealed that the thermal resistance of sintered aluminum powders vapor chamber was more stable than radial grooved.