Thermal rectification in similar and dissimilar metal contacts

Journal Article · Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Journal of Heat Transfer (Transcations of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2910547· OSTI ID:5644008

Stevenson, P F; Peterson, G P; Fletcher, L S ^[1]

---

1. Texas A and M Univ., College Station (USA)

An investigation was conducted to verify experimentally the existence of thermal rectification and to determine the effect of surface roughness and material type. Four pairs of test specimens were evaluated: one with a smooth Nickel 200 surface in contact with a rough Nickel 200 surface, one with a smooth Stainless Steel 304 surface in contact with a rough Stainless Steel 304 surface, one with a smooth Nickel 200 surface in contact with a rough Stainless Steel 304 surface, and finally, one with a smooth Stainless Steel 304 surface in contact with a rough Nickel 200 surface. The thermal contact conductance was measured for heat flow from both the smooth to rough and rough to smooth configurations for all four parts. The results indicate that thermal rectification is a function of surface characteristics, material type, and heat flow direction. For similar materials in contact, some thermal rectification was observed with heat flow from the rough surface to the smooth surface resulting in a higher value of contact conductance. For dissimilar materials, the thermal contact conductance was highest when the heat flow was from the Stainless Steel 304 to Nickel 200. In these cases, the surface roughness was shown to be of secondary importance.

• OSTI ID: 5644008
• Journal Information: Journal of Heat Transfer (Transcations of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), Series C); (United States), Vol. 113:1; ISSN 0022-1481
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
NICKEL ALLOYS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
STAINLESS STEEL-304
COOLING
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
FOURIER HEAT EQUATION
HEAT EXCHANGERS
RECTIFIERS
SPACE VEHICLES
ALLOYS
AUSTENITIC STEELS
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
CHROMIUM-NICKEL STEELS
CORROSION RESISTANT ALLOYS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
EQUATIONS
EQUIPMENT
HEAT RESISTANT MATERIALS
HEAT RESISTING ALLOYS
HIGH ALLOY STEELS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
MATERIALS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
STAINLESS STEELS
STEEL-CR19NI10
STEELS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
VEHICLES
360104* - Metals & Alloys- Physical Properties