Thermal conductivity of polycrystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramics

In general, polycrystalline ceramics exhibit lower thermal conductivities than their associated single crystals. For instance, at 300K, the theoretical thermal conductivity of single crystal aluminum nitride (AlN) is 319 W/m-K, whereas, the values measured for polycrystalline AlN ceramics range from 17 W/m-K to 285 W/m-K. This variation is not unusual for polycrystalline ceramics. The variability is strongly dependent upon the purity of the starting materials and the details of sintering process. The process is important since it influences the microstructure and thus influences the conduction mechanism. In this paper we present the causes of this variation and how it can be controlled.