Abstract
An experimental study has been done to define the capillary characteristics of a novel a type of copper metal foam which is to be used as a wick in flat heat pipes for electronic cooling. Capillary properties such as permeability (K) and effective pore radius (r eff ) are critical in defining the capillary limit of heat pipes, because their ratio (K/r eff ) i s a measure of pumping capacity of the wicking material. Foam strips with porosities of 68%, 75% and 82% are tested by the rate of rise method to measure K and r eff . Impact of evaporation on the capillary rise has been studied by using acetone as test liquid in an open and a partially saturated ambient to reduce the evaporation rate. It was found out that the rate of evaporation while the liquid is rising is less than the evaporation rate of a saturated sample with stationary liquid. This will allow ignoring the evaporation effect in the mathematical model used to extract K and r eff . By this simplification, rate of increasing of acetone and water weight with time is measured with a high precision balance and then, by using an appropriate mathematical model, K and r eff are extracted. Results show that 75% porosity foam has the highest K/r eff ratio which makes it a suitable candidate for a heat pipe wicking material.
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