A heat shield for an aircraft wheel assembly is made of a heat shield material evenly distributed across the heat shield along both the circumferential and the axial directions. The heat shield material has a high thermal conductivity greater than 30 W/mK. In various embodiments, the thermal conductivity is greater than 85 W/mK. In this manner, thermal flux is maximized throughout the heat shield to distribute heat evenly across the heat shield in both circumferential and axial directions.