POCOFoam®

Poco Graphite is the licensed manufacturer of thermally conductive graphite foam developed by Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL, US6037032, US6033506). POCO has recently obtained a patent (US Patent 6576168) for improvements to the process. This graphite foam has an open microcellular structure that makes it much lighter than other materials used in thermal management systems. It is expected that the development of this unique, new material will lead to new thermal management systems that will be radically different from traditional systems.

Research is being conducted on laminates for composite materials, coatings and infiltrations, bonding issues and machining techniques. The final result will be a number of enhancements to make the graphite foam technology accessible for many product applications.

These are some of the applications that are currently being investigated by other companies.

• Regenerator for Stirling Engine
• Fuel Cell inlet air humidification
• Demand driven nuclear reactor core
• Power electronics cooling
• High temperature composites
• Engine cooling
• Cross flow heat exchangers
• Transpiration/evaporative cooling
• Brake and clutch cooling
• Sandwich panels as thermal doublers
• Personal cooling devices
• High surface area electrodes
• Capacitors
• Hydrogen storage substrates
• Molds and tooling to decreased cycle time

Foam samples available for purchase at pocostore.com