High thermal loads during the braking of high-speed trains will result in thermal fatigue cracks on the frictional surface, leading to unpredictable failure of braking materials. Thus, improving capacity of thermal dissipation of braking pads is important for reliability of braking system. Optimizing of the microstructure is an effective way to improve thermal properties of braking pads. Here, we propose an improvement of the heat transfer properties of sintered braking pads by controlling the microstructure. In this study, a new fabrication method for braking pads with hybrid process (additive manufacturing, investment casting and sintering) is developed. In this method, periodic copper foam skeletons are used to replace copper matrix in traditional braking materials. During the casting, copper foam skeletons with different representative elementary volumes (REVs) are fabricated. Limitation of cast infiltration of copper foams with small REV size is investigated. Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of sintered bimetallic pads are tested and analysed. In addition, simulations based on finite element method are carried out to enrich the fabrication process. The effect of geometrical parameters of foams such as REV size, orientation of REV and contact surface on thermal transfer behaviours are studied. Finally, tribological tests are conducted to investigate the practical application of the new braking pads.