Way of Decrease TCO – the Advantage of U Shaped Holes

Considering the abrasion resistant character of AlSiC material, it is pretty hard to drill a hole on AlSiC composite material. With electric spark, one hole might take half a hour. Laser only applies to thin plate. Inside the industry, there are two ways to deal with holes: one is that, leave the place where hole locates with only aluminum to facilitate drilling afterward; the other is to use U shaped hole to replace round hole. Comparatively, U shaped hole could be build with infiltration process, saving manufacturing cost and reducing lead time. So, U shaped hole is always recommended.

The principle of designing U shaped hole is illustrated in Fig. (upper shows the round hole product, lower shows the same product changed to U shaped holes), that is, the opening direction of U shape hole is supposed to be in the same line that product shrink along while cooling after casting. This method designed products, are easy to be unloaded and the mold is also to be protected to increase mold re-use times. The cost of mold is main part of product cost, increase mold re-use times is to decrease the total cost of ownership.

In addition, better leave a draft angel of 5°along the unloading direction.

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AlSiC Advantages:

• CTE likes ceramic's, compatible with die and substrate;
• TC better than W-Cu and Al alloy;
• Has strength of Cast Ion, ductility of 45# steel;
• Weight of Aluminum, half weight of Titanium;

AlSiC was early used on radar on warplane to replace W-Cu. New assemblies achieved better performance on thermal dissipation, and 10kg of weight was cut from the total weight of a radar. AlSiC material thus gained attention.

Learn more：

AlSiC Material Data

One key statistic of AlSiC products

Dome shape of AlSiC IGBT base plate