Heat Transfer Performance of Micro-Porous Copper Foams with Homogeneous and Hybrid Structures Manufactured by Lost Carbonate Sintering

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe heat transfer coefficients of homogeneous and hybrid micro-porous copper foams, produced by the Lost Carbonate Sintering (LCS) process, were measured under one-dimensional forced convection conditions using water coolant. In general, increasing the water flow rate led to an increase in the heat transfer coefficients. For homogeneous samples, the optimum heat transfer performance was observed for samples with 60% porosity. Different trends in the heat transfer coefficients were found in samples with hybrid structures. Firstly, for horizontal bilayer structures, placing the high porosity layer by the heater gave a higher heat transfer coefficient than the other way round. Secondly, for integrated vertical bilayer structures, having the high porosity layer by the water inlet gave a better heat transfer performance. Lastly, for segmented vertical bilayer samples, having the low porosity layer by the water inlet offered the greatest heat transfer coefficient overall, which is five times higher than its homogeneous counterpart.