Thermal Protective Performance Research Articles

Design and Performance Analysis of a Composite Thermal Protection Structure for a Robot Pan–Tilt

To improve the adaptability of the robot pan–tilt to the high-temperature environment, a design scheme for a composite thermal protection structure composed of aerogel felt, hollow glass, and skin is proposed. The effects of aerogel felt thickness, glass type, and ambient temperature on the thermal protection performance of the structure are studied, using a fluid–solid–thermal coupling model. Numerical results show that the structure exhibits good protection performance, and that the thermal resistance distribution changes the main path of heat transmission. The optimal thickness of the aerogel felt is approximately 8 mm. Compared to 3 mm, 5 mm, and 10 mm thicknesses, 8 mm reduces the maximum temperature by 15.90%, 8.37%, and 6.22%, and reduces the total entropy by 79.23%, 52.44%, and 12.5%. Lower thermal conductivity of the gas inside the hollow glass results in decreased maximum temperatures and total entropy. Using argon-filled hollow glass at 573.15 K decreases maximum temperature by 33.52% and 8.40%, with a total entropy reduction of 33.46% and 6.04%, compared to the single-layer and air-filled glass. Higher ambient temperatures correlate with increased maximum temperature, total entropy, and average surface-heat-transfer coefficient, indicating that the adaptability of the structure to high-temperature environments is limited.

Flow and heat transfer characteristics of hydrocarbon fuel in lightweight C/SiC regenerative cooling combustor

To meet the requirements of higher thermal protection ability and lower structural weight of regenerative cooling structures in advanced hypersonic vehicles, carbon-fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composites with high permittable service temperatures and low densities are promising for application in thermal protection systems. In this study, four cylindrical regenerative cooling configurations applying C/SiC composites for a designated scramjet engine combustor are proposed, and the thermal protection performance under the influence of the cooling equivalence ratio (0.4∼1.0) and anisotropic thermal conductivity is studied. The results show that the C/SiC composites can significantly improve the heat resistance of the entire regenerative cooling structure owing to their relatively low thermal conductivity, which reduces the total heat flux transferred to the inner structure. The thermal protection ability can be maintained, whereas the coolant flow rate is reduced by 50%. C/SiC composites with higher thermal conductivities in the circumferential direction are beneficial for uniform temperature distribution. A flow distribution deterioration phenomenon caused by the thermal cracking of the coolant and the increasing flow resistance in the cooling channels can be observed under certain conditions, leading to a mass flow rate difference of 2.5 times among the cooling channels. Moreover, introducing C/SiC composites into the regenerative cooling structure design can significantly reduce the total structural weight by over 50% compared to traditional superalloys.

Influence of crack and pore structure characteristics on the thermal protective performance of thermal barrier coatings based on LBM

Influence of crack and pore structure characteristics on the thermal protective performance of thermal barrier coatings based on LBM

Implementation of Numerical Model for Prediction of Temperature Distribution for Metallic-Coated Firefighter Protective Clothing

The aim of this study is to predict the distribution of temperature at various positions on silver-coated firefighter protective clothing when subjected to external radiant heat flux. This will be helpful in the determination of thermal protective performance. Firefighter clothing consists of three layers, i.e., the outer shell, moisture barrier and thermal liner. The outer shell is the exposed surface, which was coated with silver particles through a physical vapor deposition process called magnetron sputtering. Afterwards, these uncoated and silver-coated samples were exposed to radiant heat transmission equipment at 10 kW/m2 as per the ISO 6942 standard. Silver-coated samples displayed better thermal protective performance as the rate of temperature rise in silver-coated samples slowed. Later, a numerical approach was employed, contemplating the impact of metallic coating on the exterior shell. The finite difference method was utilized for solving partial differential equations and the implicit method was employed to discretize the partial differential equations. The numerical model displayed a good prediction of the distribution of temperature at different nodes with respect to time. The comparison of time vs. temperature graphs at different nodes for uncoated and silver-coated samples acquired from numerical solutions showed similar patterns, as witnessed in the experimental results.

High heat transfer plant-inspired neural network structure controlled by variable magnetic field

Efficient heat dissipation and thermal protection present urgent challenges in high-power integrated circuits (ICs). Although applying a coating of highly thermally conductive materials on the surface of ICs is anticipated to mitigate heat concentration issues, ensuring thermal protection for adjacent devices continues to pose a challenge. Inspired by the microstructure of unidirectional nutrient transport in plant roots, this study utilizes magnetic liquid metal droplets to develop a high thermal conductivity network capable of adaptively manipulating the heat transfer path. This approach aims to tackle the challenges of heat concentration, disordered thermal dissipation, and thermal protection for high-power ICs, thereby enhancing thermal management efficiency. By controlling the distribution of the magnetic field, this study orchestrates the structure of the thermal conduction network to ensure rapid and orderly heat dissipation of ICs while simultaneously validating the network's thermal protection performance. The temperature in the IC thermal concentration zone reaches thermal equilibrium at 399.1 K when the ambient temperature is at 295 K. As the ambient temperature rises to 333 K, the temperature in the IC heat concentration zone stabilizes at approximately 400 K. Simultaneously, the temperature at a specific point in the thermal path of the network registers at 341 K, with the temperatures of the devices flanking this point at 314 K. The magnetron thermal conduction network, inspired by the root structure of bionic plants, not only boosts the thermal management efficiency of ICs but also shows promising application prospects in aerospace, electronics, and other related industries.

Numerical investigation of blunt body's resistance and heat reduction with combination of airway spike and root jet

Aerodynamic heating and impact resistance present significant challenges for hypersonic aircraft. This study introduces a novel multi-jet strategy to enhance both resistance reduction and thermal protection performance of hypersonic aircraft. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis is employed for the aerodynamic evaluation. The results demonstrate that this novel strategy effectively mitigates the shock waves, the peak pressure coefficient and Stanton number have been reduced by 64.3 % and 73.2 %, respectively. Through a comprehensive analysis of the influencing factors, it has been found that increasing the pressure ratio of the root jet significantly lowers the heat flux and pressure on the blunt body, albeit at the cost of an increased total flight resistance. When the nozzle on the side of the airway is oriented perpendicularly to the incoming flow direction, a notable reduction in resistance and aerodynamic heating on the blunt body is noted. By increasing the length-diameter ratio of the spike, a significant decrease in the pressure coefficient of the blunt body is achieved, the Stanton number remains largely unaffected. This study offers insights into the engineering application of strategies for reducing resistance and heat in hypersonic aircraft.

Multifunctional double cold source system using temperature-sensitive hydrogel for cooling extravehicular spacesuits

The development of future space missions aimed at extended distances has challenged the thermal protection performance of extravehicular spacesuits. The use of more efficient and lightweight cooling systems in spacesuits can reduce costs and promote the advancement of human spaceflight. This study applies the temperature-sensitive hydrogel to the cooling system of the spacesuit, which combined with a water sublimator constitutes a double cooling source that dissipates heat simultaneously. As shown by modeling and simulation, the novel system effectively dissipates heat, with an 11.42% increase in total heat dissipation over the conventional method. Furthermore, the hydrogel can store water, and the water released during heat dissipation is provided to the sublimator for backup, reducing water consumption by 31.2% and lowering consumable demand. We defined the sublimation water release heat dissipation ratio, and it ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 in different operating modes, with the water sublimator serving as the primary cooling source. The research results suggest that the novel double cold source system can deploy heat dissipation capacity according to heat load distribution and flexibly meet the requirements of various tasks. The double cold source system is a highly efficient thermal management system that provides a novel approach to optimizing spacesuits.

Study on Thermodynamic Coupling Performance of Multi-Level Lattice Structures

With the development of hypersonic vehicle, the design of heat-resistant and load-bearing surface of hypersonic vehicle has gradually become a key technology affecting its combat effectiveness. As a new type of lightweight and high-strength structure, lattice structure has excellent mechanical properties such as ultra-light, high specific strength and high specific stiffness, and special properties such as vibration reduction, heat dissipation and sound absorption. Among them, the multi-level lattice structure can increase the bearing efficiency of the structure at low relative density, and increase the heat transfer area at the same time, so as to improve the heat protection and bearing capacity of the structure. This study includes three aspects of high temperature out-of-plane compression test, high temperature numerical simulation comparison, and structural optimization for the designed multi-level pyramid lattice, in order to obtain the bearing capacity of the multi-level pyramid lattice at 350°C, and further improve the bearing performance by optimizing the core structure. Through experiments and verification, the multi-level pyramid lattice designed and optimized in this study can further meet the requirements of thermal protection and load-bearing performance of aircraft compared with the single-level pyramid lattice, and can provide a reference for the study of high temperature mechanical properties of lattice structures, the design of new multi-level lattice structures and the engineering application of lattice structures.

Design and thermal protection performance analysis of insulated wing storage box for hypersonic variable-sweep aircraft

Utilizing variable-sweep wing technology can further enhance the flight performance of hypersonic aircraft in a wide range of high-altitude, high-speed environments. Existing research on hypersonic variable-sweep flying wings has mainly focused on aerodynamic shape design, with limited research on the internal thermal protection of the aircraft. This study firstly investigates the performance improvement of a hypersonic flying wing using variable-sweep technology through CFD simulations. Secondly, to address the high-temperature issues induced by variable-sweep wings, an insulated wing storage box with a corrugated structure is designed, incorporating a thermal insulation layer made of corrugated webs and insulating materials. Heat transfer simulations are conducted by applying thermal loads to the wing storage box to study the temperature distribution during the variable-sweep process. Finally, a comparison between the corrugated structure design and the non-corrugated structure design of the wing storage box is performed to analyze the thermal insulation performance of the insulation layer. The results show that the heated area of the wing storage box is primarily influenced by the wing’s sweep angle, and the corrugated thermal insulation layer can effectively reduce heat transfer efficiency, resulting in a 30% reduction in the external temperature of the wing storage box.

Constructing lightweight ternary interpenetrating network of carbon fabric/siloxane/phenolic aerogels for long-time high-temperature thermal protection

Lightweight ablative material has served the critical role of protecting space vehicles upon hypersonic entry. However, low oxidation resistance hinders its long-time high-efficiency service in a high-temperature oxidizing atmosphere. Herein, we prepared a lightweight ternary interpenetrating network of three-dimensional carbon fabric, siloxane aerogel, and phenolic aerogel, which are structurally interpenetrating in macro-, micron-to nanoscale and chemically crosslinking at the molecular scale, resulting in a unique combination of low-density (∼0.3 g/cm3), good thermal stability and oxidation resistance, outstanding mechanical properties, and ultralow thermal conductivity. More intriguingly, long-time thermal protection performance (zero surface recession and temperature below 60 °C at 38 mm in-depth after being exposed to 1300 °C for 20 min). The findings of this work provide not only a great potential candidate material for long-time thermal protection in aviation and aerospace applications but also a simple but efficient approach to fabricating multifunctional binary, ternary, and even multiple interpenetrating networks.

Numerical investigation of the influence of thermal protective fabric deformation on heat transfer from thermal radiant heat to human skin

Operators in thermal hazardous environments are more susceptible to burns during physical motion due to the potential deformation of thermal protective clothing. To study the influence of fabric deformation on heat transfer, a model of a three-layer thermal protective fabric system with stretching and compression deformation throughout the heat exposure and cooling phases was established and coupled with a skin heat transfer model to predict skin burns. Changes in the thermophysical properties of the fabric with deformation and skin tissue based on body location were considered. To verify the accuracy of the model, a modified radiant protective performance tester capable of simulating fabric deformation was applied. The relative error between the prediction results of the model and the experimental results does not exceed 4.68 %. The results demonstrate that stretching or compression deformation of the fabric increases heat transfer to the skin, and compression deformation generates a greater thermal hazard by accelerating the discharge of stored energy. Fabric deformation accelerates skin burns in all body parts, especially in the arms and legs. The findings of this research can provide a theoretical basis for understanding the frequent occurrence of skin burns associated with body motion and provide guidance for the design of thermal protective clothing to enhance the partial thermal protective performance.

Protective and Comfort Performance of Fire Protective Clothing

The study examined the fire protection performance of several woven products. Given that the comfort and fire protection properties of fire protective clothing (FPC) are opposite, it is important to consider the specific needs of firefighters when selecting the most suitable structure from various plain-woven derivatives, such as plain, basket, and ripstop. The yarn used was Nomex IIIA, which is a type of meta-aramid fibre. To achieve different thread densities, the pick density was adjusted while keeping the end density constant. The physical characteristics, thermal protective performance, thermal resistance, thermal conductivity, water vapour transmission rate and air permeability of all samples were assessed according to the appropriate standards. The goal was to identify the weave structure with the highest performance and the most optimal thread density. The basket weave structure was proposed as a fire protective clothing (FPC) having comfort qualities at a moderate level. Furthermore, increased density provided enhanced fire resistance, however, comfort must be sacrificed. Thus, to achieve a balance between fire protection and comfort, it was recommended to choose a thread density that is of an average level and the suggestion made by this research is to use the fabric as a basket weave design with an ends per inch of approximately 42, it is recommended to retain the pick density within the range of 46 with 44 tex Nomex IIIA yarn. The results of this study may be replicated in other designs using Nomex IIIA and comparable types of cloth and weave specifications.

Numerical investigation on thermal protection of wind turbine flanges in extremely cold weather

PurposeThermal protection of a flange is critical for preventing tower icing and collapse of wind turbines (WTs) in extremely cold weather. This study aims to develop a novel thermal protection system for the WTs flanges using an electrical heat-tracing element.Design/methodology/approachA three-dimensional model and the Poly-Hexacore mesh structure are used, and the fluid-solid coupling method was validated and then deployed to analyze the heat transfer and convection process. Intra-volumetric heat sources are applied to represent the heat generated by the heating element, and the dynamic boundary conditions are considered. The steady temperature and temperature uniformity of the flange are the assessment criteria for the thermal protection performance of the heating element.FindingsEnlarging the heating area and increasing the heating power improved the flange's temperature and temperature uniformity. A heating power of 4.9 kW was suitable for engineering applications with the lowest temperature nonuniformity. Compared with continuous heating, the increased temperature nonuniformity was buffered, and the electrical power consumption was reduced by half using pulse heating. Pulse heating time intervals of 1, 3 and 4 h were determined for the spring, autumn and winter, respectively.Originality/valueThe originality of this study is to propose a novel electrical heat-tracing thermal protection system for the WTs flanges. The effect of different arrangements, heating powers and heating strategies was studied, by which the theoretical basis is provided for a stable and long-term utilization of the WT flange.

Composite high-entropy (La0.2Nd0.2Sm0.2Eu0.2Gd0.2)2Ce2O7 thermal barrier coatings with enhanced thermal cycling performance

The emerging high-entropy (La0.2Nd0.2Sm0.2Eu0.2Gd0.2)2Ce2O7 (LECO) has been verified as a potential thermal barrier material. To ensure accurate thermal cycling life prediction of LECO-based coating, double ceramic layered coatings LECO-8YSZ (8YSZ: 8 mol% yttrium stabilized zirconia) (Y-LECO) and composite (25 wt% 8YSZ + 75 wt% LECO)-8YSZ (Y-YLECO) were prepared via atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). In Y-YLECO, the toughening of 8YSZ in LECO effectively impeded the driving force of crack propagation and slowed down the delamination rate of the coating. Thus, the thermal cycling life of Y-YLECO is about 30 % higher than that of Y-LECO. Besides, both coatings exhibited mild delamination behavior. The exfoliation only appeared at the LECO-based coating with tiny flake-like delamination occurring on the surface. Such spallation pattern contributed to alleviating the stress concentration and preventing the further propagation of vertical cracks towards substrate. Moreover, the addition of 8YSZ did not sacrifice the thermal insulation performance of the composite coating, while it was 0.75 W·m−1·K−1 at 1000 °C for 25 wt% 8YSZ + 75 wt% LECO coating, close to the single-component LECO coating (0.67 W·m−1·K−1). The component design strategy could be a new pathway to further enhance the thermal protection performance of the high-entropy coatings.

Experimental study on the thermal protection enhancement of novel phase change material integrated structural firefighting gloves under high-heat exposures

Phase change material (PCM) has been widely studied for efficient thermal management. This work is the first holistic experimental research on the temperature control performance of PCM-integrated firefighters' gloves. The results showed that the thermal protection time could be extended by 2-5 times in the direct contact to hot object tests and around 1.5 times under the radiant/convective heat source tests when embedding a 1-mm-thick PCM layer in gloves. The PCM of melting point 68 °C showed the best thermal protection performance in all test conditions since it had the most efficient phase change function during the heating process. Considering the PCM location effect, the PCM with lower melting point (68 °C) showed better performance when located close to external environment (heat source) and the PCM with higher melting point (108 °C and 151 °C) showed better performance when located close to hand. The optimum PCM thickness would be in the range of 0.5-1.0 mm for both thermal protection improvement and hand dexterity purposes. In addition, the time for continuous temperature rises on the hand surface at post-heat exposure was longer when embedding PCM in firefighters’ gloves due to the stored latent heat in PCM.

Comparison between the human physiological sweat and pre-wetting method on the heat and mass transfer of thermal protective clothing under radiant exposure

In this study, a thorough investigation of human sweating behavior was conducted to ensure an accurate evaluation of the thermal protection performance of garments, addressing the lack of existing standardized methods. Three fabrics were compared at different sweating rates under radiant exposure, focusing on exploring heat and mass transfer mechanisms using the traditional pre-wetting method and the innovative continuous sweating method. It was found that the pre-wetting method was effective in situations where fabrics experienced transient moisture absorption, whereas the continuous sweating method excelled in scenarios requiring continuous moisture supply before saturation and was used to estimate liquid moisture transfer. In particular, for materials with low hygroscopicity, the pre-wetting method resulted in 86.24 kJ/m2 more absorbed thermal energy at the skin surface compared with the continuous sweating method, with a sweat rate of 10 μL/min/cm2, highlighting the tendency of the pre-wetting method to overestimate the thermal protective performance. Conversely, for fabrics with high hygroscopicity and testing with high sweat rate, a 32.81% reduction in absorbed thermal energy on the skin surface was observed when the continuous sweating method was used in place of the pre-wetting method, significantly reducing operational risks. This study provides valuable guidance in selecting appropriate sweat simulation methods to evaluate the thermal protection performance based on specific environmental conditions, and provides critical insights for further studies on heat and moisture transfer.

Study of the spike-aerodisk-opposing jet on heat protection to both the spike-aerodisk and the blunt body and overall drag reduction in rarefied hypersonic flow in near space

The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC) is utilized in this study to investigate the flowfield surrounding the spike-aerodisk without and with an opposing jet under rarefied hypersonic conditions within near space (altitudes of 60∼90 km and Mach numbers 7∼20). As the flight altitude increases, the incoming flow gradually becomes rarefied, weakening the drag reduction effect of the spike-aerodisk model. At altitudes reaching 90 km, the spike-aerodisk loses its drag reduction effect due to the increasing proportion of the viscous drag coefficient. At a flight altitude of 70 km, as flight Mach numbers increase, the drag reduction and thermal protection performance of the spike-aerodisk remains unchanged, mainly demonstrating the excellent performance of the spike-aerodisk model at high Mach numbers. However, the peak wall heat flux coefficient on the aerodisk can be 4.8 times higher than on the blunt body. Therefore, an opposing jet is introduced to protect the spike-aerodisk from overheating and further improve the spike-aerodisk's drag and heat reduction efficiency. Within the investigated parameter range, when the opposing-jet pressure ratio is 0.02, the peak wall heat flux coefficient of the aerodisk can decrease from 0.58 to a level similar to that of the blunt body, approximately 0.12. To make the aerodisk more certain from overheating, choosing the opposing-jet pressure ratio of 0.08 can improve drag reduction and heat prevention on the blunt body by 60.9 % and 59.7 %, respectively, compared to the spike-aerodisk model without an opposing jet.

Preparation of anisotropic polyimide aerogels for thermal protection with outstanding flexible resilience using the freeze-drying method.

Polyimide aerogels (PIAs) not only possess excellent thermodynamic properties but also have a high porosity structure, making them an exceptional protective and thermal insulation material, and further broadening their application scope in aerospace and other cutting-edge fields. In this work, a series of anisotropic polyimide aerogels (3,3',4,4'-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (S-BPDA), p-phenylenediamine (PDA), 4,4'-diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA)) with excellent properties were prepared. These PIAs were obtained by unidirectional freeze-drying and thermal amination of two different precursor solutions mixed in proportion. These PIAs possess an irregularly oval tubular structure, exhibiting pronounced anisotropy. (PIA-2 exhibits outstanding flexible resilience in the radial direction. It can still regain its original form after half an hour of compression by a universal testing machine, yet it cannot do so in the axial direction. The thermal diffusivity of PIA-5 in the radial direction at room temperature is as low as 0.067 mm2 s-1, and even at 200 °C, the thermal diffusivity is as low as 0.057 mm2 s-1. Meanwhile, the thermal diffusivity in the axial direction at room temperature is 0.11 mm2 s-1, surpassing the value of 0.106 mm2 s-1 of aerogels prepared from monomeric raw materials and dried under supercritical conditions). PIAs exhibit outstanding thermal stability (the axial strength and modulus retention of PIA-8 at 200 °C are as high as 52.63% and 44.82%), and its weight loss temperature of 5% is as high as 603 °C and it has a glass softening temperature of 387 °C. PIAs also demonstrate exceptional flame retardancy in imitation flame retardant experiments and exhibit outstanding thermal insulation performance when heated on a 150 °C heating plate for 10 minutes (the radial surface temperature of PIA-5 was only 49.9 °C). These anisotropic PIAs materials exhibit outstanding flexible resilience, and thermal protection performance, holding significant importance for their widespread adoption as thermal insulation materials in aerospace, high-precision electronic components, and other domains.

Silicon Hybrid EPDM Composite with High Thermal Protection Performance.

The effects of octaphenylsilsesquioxane (OPS), fumed silica, and silica aerogel on the thermal insulation properties of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber were studied. On this basis, two kinds of fillers with good performances were selected to study the thermal insulation of an EPDM full-formula system. The results show that the addition of fumed silica or silica aerogel had a positive effect on the thermal insulation performance of EPDM rubber and its composite. A 30 wt% silica aerogel can be well dispersed in the EPDM rubber system and with a lower thermal conductivity compared with fumed silica. EPDM composite with 23.4 wt% fumed silica can produce more char residues at 1000 °C than at 500 °C in a burn-through test and formed the compact and porous char at 1000 °C, which had a lowest thermal conductivity. EPDM composite with fumed silica cannot be burned through 1000 °C burning, and comparison with silica aerogel revealed that it achieved the lowest back temperature and had a temperature of 388 °C after 800 s.

Predicting the thermal protective performance of flame-retardant fabric based on machine learning

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to predict the thermal protective performance (TPP) of flame-retardant fabric more economically using machine learning and analyze the factors affecting the TPP using model visualization.Design/methodology/approachA total of 13 machine learning models were trained by collecting 414 datasets of typical flame-retardant fabric from current literature. The optimal performance model was used for feature importance ranking and correlation variable analysis through model visualization.FindingsFive models with better performance were screened, all of which showed R2 greater than 0.96 and root mean squared error less than 3.0. Heat map results revealed that the TPP of fabrics differed significantly under different types of thermal exposure. The effect of fabric weight was more apparent in the flame or low thermal radiation environment. The increase in fabric weight, fabric thickness, air gap width and relative humidity of the air gap improved the TPP of the fabric.Practical implicationsThe findings suggested that the visual analysis method of machine learning can intuitively understand the change trend and range of second-degree burn time under the influence of multiple variables. The established models can be used to predict the TPP of fabrics, providing a reference for researchers to carry out relevant research.Originality/valueThe findings of this study contribute directional insights for optimizing the structure of thermal protective clothing, and introduce innovative perspectives and methodologies for advancing heat transfer modeling in thermal protective clothing.