Porosity Effects on Thermal Behaviour of 10 PPI Aluminum Foam

Abstract

Electronic cooling challenge is focused on the high heat flux to be dissipated by the operating fluid. Efficient heat spreaders and dissipators, and compact heat exchangers are in great demand for various applications. In the last decade, cellular structure materials and particularly open cells metal foams have been proposed as possible substitutes for traditional finned surfaces. Several authors have experimentally investigated the thermal performance of different metal foams and periodic heat transfer media. Metal foams present random microstructures that consist in open cells randomly oriented and mostly homogeneous in size and shape. Most commercially available metal foams are based on aluminum, copper, nickel and metal alloys. This paper presents the porosity effects on the thermal behaviour of different 10 PPI (pores per inch) metal foams tested in the experimental facility built at the Dept. of Fisica Tecnica of the University of Padova. In particular, the data points have been collected by varying independently the mass flow rate and the heat flow rate. The measured experimental heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drops for three metal foams with different porosity are compared.