Research Summary
An Experimental Technique to Characterize the Thermal Conductivity of Polymer Composites Using Infrared Camera
Authors: H. Yu (PhDME), A. Nonn (Intern), D. Heider and S. G. Advani
INTRODUCTION
Motivation
Low through-thickness thermal conductivity of typical composite materials
Measure and enhance the through-thickness thermal conductivity for composites
Objectives
Record the temperature gradient due to sample surface heterogeneity
Investigate the role of natural convective boundary condition influence on heat transfer efficiency
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD AND SETUP
Vertical implementation: prevention of asymmetric natural convection
SURFACE EMISSIVITY AND HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT EVALUATION
Evaluate the thermal grease surface emissivity to acquire the real temperature based on infrared image reading
3D FINITE ELEMENT MODELING
VALIDATION TEST AND COMPOSITES TEST
Stainless steel sample test
Effective k calculation error <4%
Composites test
RESULTS
SUMMARY
An apparatus was modified to be integrated with infrared camera and FE modeling for a novel through-thickness thermal conductivity measurement technique with the capability to capture surface temperature unevenness.
Multiple copper rods distributed through the thickness enhance thermal conductivity significantly.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (CCMI-0970002).
