Thermal Contact Resistance of Polymer Interfaces

[摘要] In this study an experimental program was carried out to determine the thermalcontact resistance at polymer interfaces. Specifically, a polycarbonate to stainlesssteel interface along with a polycarbonate to polycarbonate interface were investigated.The thermal contact resistance at a stainless steel to stainless steel interfacewas also investigated for comparison purposes. Experimental data was obtained overa pressure range of approximately 600 - 7000 kPa, in a vacuum environment.

The experimental data was compared to the CMY plastic contact model, theMikic elastic contact model and the SY elasto-plastic contact model to investigatethe ability of such established thermal contact models to predict the thermal contactresistance at polymer interfaces. Based upon predictions made in regards to the modeof deformation of the asperities on the contacting surfaces the appropriate contactmodel showed good agreement with the experimental data for the stainless steel-stainlesssteel data set and the polycarbonate-stainless steel data sets. There waspoor agreement between the all three contact models and the experimental data forthe polycarbonate-polycarbonate data sets. It was determined that uncertainties inthe proposed experimental method prevented an accurate measurement of the thermalcontact resistance values for the polycarbonate-polycarbonate data sets.

The purpose of this investigation was to extend the use of established thermal contactmodels to polymer interfaces and to provide a comparison between the thermalcontact resistance values of metal and polymer interfaces.

Thermal contact resistance for the polymer to metal interface was shown to bepredicted by the Mikic elastic contact model in comparison to the metal to metalinterface which was shown to be predicted by the CMY plastic contact model. Thethermal contact resistance for a polymer interface was found to be on the same orderas a metal interface.

[发布机构] University of Waterloo

[关键词] Mechanical Engineering