Novel for the resistance welding of laminated wire mesh microgroove composite wicks with enhanced capillary performance

The efficient operation of micro heat pipes (MHPs) requires evaporation and rapid condensation of the working liquid reflux to the heat source, and the internal wick structures play a crucial role. With the advantages of high porosity, good flexibility, and low thickness, mesh is ideal for ultrathin thermal management systems, especially acting as wicks in MHPs. This study proposes a novel method of fabricating resistance -welded laminated mesh microgroove composite wick structures; this is different from the earlier composite wick structure that first processed microgrooves on a flat substrate and then laid the mesh for vacuum sintering. The new composite wick structures were fabricated by the resistance welding of laminated meshes, soaking them in resin, and laser processing them with microgrooves after solidification, which exhibited superhydrophilicity. The capillary rise experiment was used to test the capillary performance of the composite wick structure, and the Delta Pcap & sdot;K value was used as an index to evaluate the capillary performance of samples. The results showed that the effective pore size gradually decreased, and the capillary performance gradually improved with an increase in the number of mesh welding layers. Compared with the single -layer mesh, the capillary height of the four -layer welded laminated mesh was increased by approximately 66.94 %. By modifying the laminated screen with resin soaking and processing microgrooves, forming porous microstructures on the sidewalls and bottom of the microgrooves, the capillary performance significantly improved again, with a maximum capillary height of 83.23 mm that was increased by approximately 394.83 % and 196.4 % than that of the single -layer screen and the four -layer laminated screen before modification, respectively, and the Delta Pcap & sdot;K values were increased by approximately 157.38 % and 49.69 %, respectively. This study provides a new ideal for the fabrication of composite wicks for enhancing the thermal performance of MHPs.