Advances in thermal contact resistance studies

Abstract

The demand for accurate Thermal Contact Resistance analysis and prediction continues to increase with the advancement of technology. In applications such as manufacturing, it is beneficial to understand the Thermal Contact resistance between the workpiece and tool, or between the tool and debris or shavings to accurately predict the tool wear rate. It is essential to understand and analyze this parameter in aerospace, nuclear power generation, supercar braking systems, and similar applications where close tolerances are used. The continued technological advancements indicate further opportunities for research in Thermal Contact Resistance. This article surveys and summarizes industrial applications’ as well as experimental and theoretical studies. In addition recent advances in both experimental methods and predictive studies are also comprehensively summarized and highlight the trends and future needs of studies in Thermal Contact Resistance, these included recent advances in transient and steady state experimental methods. There is a clear need for optimization, versatility, and economical improvement of these methods. Moreover, the rise in advanced metrological technologies, instrumentation, and thermal measurement systems.