Enhanced pool boiling heat transfer on soft liquid metal surface

Abstract

Pool boiling is a high-efficient energy transfer method through the gas-liquid phase transition. It has the characteristics of small heat transfer temperature difference and high heat flux density. The current enhancement of boiling heat transfer is realized mainly through modifying the solid heating surface. So far, there has been no report on the study of pool boiling heat transfer on soft surfaces. Therefore, in this work the pool boiling heat transfer performances of ethanol on the copper surface and soft liquid metal surface are investigated experimentally. The experimental results indicate that soft surface can effectively reduce the wall superheat corresponding to the onset of boiling (ONB). In saturation boiling, the superheat of the wall surface at ONB is reduced by nearly 12 ℃, while the heat transfer coefficient is improved by 149%. It is found that soft surface enhances pool boiling heat transfer performance significantly by increasing nucleate site density, reducing the bubble departure diameter, and increasing bubble departure frequency. Unlike the copper surface, the soft surface deforms elastically under the action of the vertical component of surface tension <i>γ</i><sub>lv</sub>sin<i>θ</i> at the three-phase contact line of the vapor bubble. From the perspective of surface energy analysis, the difference in surface energy Δ<i>E</i><sub>LM</sub> between before and after bubble departure on soft liquid metal surface is smaller than in smooth surface Δ<i>E</i><sub>CS</sub>. The potential barrier of the soft surface is smaller than of the copper surface, and the buoyancy required for bubble separation is small, and the bubble is easy to separate. Elastocapillary wave and bubble jet phenomenon on the soft surface are observed particularly, which are generated on liquid metal under the action of elastic restoring force. The fluctuation of elastocapillary wave contributes to the enhancement of heat and mass transfer in thermal boundary layer and the generation of residual nucleation site. The residual bubble grows up rapidly and coalesces with the rising large bubble, forming bubble jet phenomenon. Elastocapillary wave and bubble jet contribute to the enhancement of pool boiling heat transfer on soft liquid metal surface.