HEAT TRANSFER DEVICE HAVING METALLIC OPEN CELL POROUS WICKING STRUCTURE

摘要

A heat transfer device, comprising a wick disposed within the enclosed chamber for transporting the working fluid m a liquid state via capillary action from a cold section towards a hot section, the wick comprising a metallic open cell porous structure having been made by a process including (i) providing a dry flowable powder mixture including (a) between 50 wt % and 80 wt % metal particles having a first melting temperature, (b) between 20 wt % and 50% wt binding agent having a decomposition temperature, the decomposition temperature being lower than the first melting temperature; (ii) heating the mixture to a temperature lower than the decomposition temperature at least to cure the binding agent to obtain a solid structure, (iii) heating the solid structure to at least the decomposition temperature to cleanly decompose the binding agent and obtain an non-sintered open cell porous structure, and (iv) heating the non-sintered open cell porous body to a temperature lower than the first melting temperature to sinter the metal particles and obtain a metallic open cell porous body formable into the metallic open cell porous structure of the wick.