Effects of contact pressure, interface temperature, and surface roughness on thermal contact conductance between stainless steel surfaces under atmosphere condition

Experimental characterization methods for thermal contact resistance: A review

Experimental study of the effects of the thermal contact resistance on the performance of thermoelectric generator

Entropy generation in thermal systems with solid structures - A concise review

A unique experimental set-up was fabricated to carry out axial heat flow steady state experiments for the assessment of thermal contact conductance (TCC) at the interface of two materials. Three different materials (copper, brass and stainless steel) were selected for the experiments considering their mechanical and thermal properties. Heat transfer experiments were performed in vacuum environment (0.045 torr) to find out solid spot contact conductance for nominally flat surfaces with different surface roughness (1–5 μm) for each specimen under several load conditions (0.6–15 MPa). A precise estimation of TCC for the interface of sets of similar materials was one of the most important results of this research. The effects of the surface roughness, the material properties and the load conditions (nominal interface pressure) have been studied and documented. Furthermore, the experimental results of solid spot contact conductance were compared with four theoretical models, showing their limitations to make a precise estimation of the TCC in the range of the used parameters.

Huanxin Chen

Papers

Influences of temperature and contact pressure on thermal contact resistance at interfaces at cryogenic temperatures