Carbon Aerogel-Based High-Temperature Thermal Insulation

Carbon aerogels, monolithic porous carbons derived via pyrolysis of porous organic precursors synthesized via the sol–gel route, are excellent materials for high-temperature thermal insulation applications both in vacuum and inert gas atmospheres. Measurements at 1773K reveal for the aerogels investigated thermal conductivities of 0.09W · m⁻¹ · K⁻¹ in vacuum and 0.12W · m⁻¹ · K⁻¹ in 0.1MPa argon atmosphere. Analysis of the different contributions to the overall thermal transport in the carbon aerogels shows that the heat transfer via the solid phase dominates the thermal conductivity even at high temperatures. This is due to the fact that the radiative heat transfer is strongly suppressed as a consequence of a high infrared extinction coefficient and the gaseous contribution is reduced since the average pore diameter of about 600nm is limiting the mean free path of the gas molecules in the pores at high temperatures. Based on the thermal conductivity data detected up to 1773K as well as specific extinction coefficients determined via infrared-optical measurements, the thermal conductivity can be extrapolated to 2773K yielding a value of only 0.14W· m⁻¹ · K⁻¹ in vacuum.     

Two Effective Thermal Conductivity Models for Porous Media with Hollow Spherical Agglomerates

Based on the microstructure features of xonotlite-type micro-pore calcium silicate, two unit cell models, the point-contact hollow spherical model and the surface-contact hollow cubic model, are developed. As one of several excellent insulation materials, xonotlite is represented as porous media with hollow spherical agglomerates. By one-dimensional heat conduction analysis using theunit cell, the effective thermal conductivity of xonotlite is determined. The results show that both of the models are in agreement with experimental data. The algebraic expressions based on the unit cell models can be used to calculate the effective thermal conductivity of porous media that have similar structure features as xonotlite.Paper presented at the Seventh Asian Thermophysical Properties Conference, August 23–28, 2004, Hefei and Huangshan, Anhui, P. R. China     

High Temperature Thermal Physical Properties of High-alumina Fibrous Insulation

The thermal properties of high-alumina fibrous insulation which filled in metallic thermal protection system were investigated. The effective thermal conductivities of the fibrous insulation were measured under an atmospheric pressure from 10^-2 to 10^5 Pa. In addition, the changes of the specific heat and Rosseland mean extinction coefficient were experimentally determined under various surrounding temperatures up to 973 K. The spectral extinction coefficients were obtained from transmittance data in the wavelength range of 2.5- 25 μm using Beer＇s law. Rosseland mean extinction coefficients as a function of temperature were calculated based on spectral extinction coefficients at various temperatures. The results show that thermal conductivities of the sample increase with increasing temperature and pressure. Specific heat increases as temperature increases, which shows that the capacity of heat absorption increases gradually with temperature. Rosseland mean extinction coefficients of the sample decrease firstly and then increase with increasing the temperature.     

Influence of Spacer Systems on Heat Transfer in Evacuated Glazing

One attractive possibility to essentially improve the insulation properties of glazing is to evacuate the space between the glass panes. This eliminates heat transport due to convection between the glass panes and suppresses the thermal conductivity of the remaining low pressure filling gas atmosphere. The glass panes can be prevented from collapsing by using a matrix of spacers. These spacers, however, increase heat transfer between the glass panes. To quantify this effect, heat transfer through samples of evacuated glazing was experimentally determined. The samples were prepared with different kinds of spacer materials and spacer distances. The measurements were performed with a guarded hot-plate apparatus under steady-state conditions and at room temperature. The measuring chamber of the guarded hot plate was evacuated to < 10⁻² Pa. An external pressure load of 0.1 MPa was applied on the samples to ensure realistic system conditions. Radiative heat transfer was significantly reduced by preparing the samples with a low-ε coating on one of the glass panes. In a first step, measurements without any spacers allowed quantification of the amount of radiative heat transfer. With these data, the measurements with spacers could be corrected to separate the effect of the spacers on thermal heat transfer. The influence of the thermal conductivity of the spacer material, as well as the distance between the spacers and the spacer geometry, was experimentally investigated and showed good agreement with simulation results. For mechanically stable matrices with cylindrical spacers, experimental thermal conductance values ≤0.44W·m⁻² ·K⁻¹ were found. This shows that U _g -values of about 0.5W · m⁻² · K⁻¹ are achievable in evacuated glazing, if highly efficient low-emissivity coatings are used.     

Multi-scale Modeling of Radiation Heat Transfer through Nanoporous Superinsulating Materials

In this contribution, the extraordinarily high level of thermal insulation produced by nanoporous materials, which can achieve thermal conductivities down to a few mW·m⁻¹·K⁻¹ when they are evacuated to a primary vacuum, is highlighted. The objective here is to quantify the level of radiation heat transfer traveling through a nanoporous material in relation with its composition. The model used here is based on the “non-gray anisotropically scattering Rosseland approximation,” which allows the definition of a “radiation thermal conductivity” expressed as a function of the optical properties (complex optical index spectra), mean sizes and volume fractions of the different populations of particles constituting the material. With the help of this simple model, one can draw interesting conclusions concerning the impacts of different parameters related to the microstructure of the nanoporous material on the amplitude of the radiation heat transfer. In the future, this model should help to orient the formulation of new nanoporous materials with optimized radiative properties. Paper presented at the Seventeenth European Conference on Thermophysical Properties, September 5–8, 2005, Bratislava, Slovak Republic.     

Evolution of microstructures and thermal properties with heat treatment for absorbing, emitting and scattering fibrous medium

The microstructure changes of a fibrous insulation for thermal protection system were examined before and after thermal exposures at different temperatures between 1000 °C and 1400 °C. The consequent thermal properties, i.e., thermal conductivity, extinction coefficient, albedo of scattering, and linear coefficient of phase function at different stages were measured by using a developed experimental device and data processing method. The effects of microstructure changes on the thermal properties degradation were discussed. It was found that the devitrification of mullite and the microstructure changes induced by heat treatment had a significant influence upon the thermal properties, and higher temperature treatment yielded a strong increase in thermal conductivity of fibrous insulation. The results also indicated that the relative contribution of conductive and radiative heat transfer would be re-regulated after high temperature thermal annealing.     

Thermal Diffusivity Measurements on Insulation Materials with the Laser Flash Method

An iterative approach is adopted to determine the thermal diffusivity of the xonotlite-type calcium silicate insulation material with very low thermal conductivity. The measurements were performed with a conventional laser flash apparatus by rear-face detection of the temperature response of the three-layered sample, where the insulating material is sandwiched between two iron slices. In the evaluation of the thermal conductivity, the theoretical curve is fitted to the complete temperature–time curve, instead of just using the t _1/2 point. The theoretical model is based on the thermal quadrupole method. The nonlinear parameter estimation technique is used to estimate simultaneously the thermal diffusivity, heat transfer coefficient, and absorbed energy. Based on experimental results, the optimal thickness range of the insulation material in the sample is indicated as 1.6 to 1.9 mm. The effects of the uncertainties of the thicknesses, contact resistance, and thermophysical properties of the three layers on the measurement uncertainty are estimated, giving an overall uncertainty in the thermal conductivity of approximately 7.5%.Paper presented at the Seventh Asian Thermophysical Properties Conference, August 23–28, 2004, Hefei and Huangshan, Anhui, P. R. China.     

Experimental study of the influences of degraded vacuum on multilayer insulation blankets

The paper presented experimental investigation on the heat transfer of MLI with different rarefied gases at different pressures. The investigations were carried out using an innovative static liquid nitrogen boil-off rate measurement system in the case of the small temperature perturbations of cold and warm boundaries. The heat fluxes for a number of inert and some polyatomic gases have been analyzed at different heat transfer conditions ranging from molecular to continuum regime, apparent thermal conductivities of the multilayer insulation were measured over a wide range of temperature (77 K–300 K) and pressure (10⁻³–10⁵ Pa) using the apparatus. The experimental results indicated that under degraded vacuum condition, the influences of rarefied gas on the MLI thermal performance very depend on the gas rarefaction degree which impacted by the MLI vacuum degree. Under the condition of molecular regime heat transfer, the MLI thermal performance was greatly influenced by gas energy accommodation coefficients (EAC), when under the continuum regime, the performances depend on the thermal conductivity of rarefied gas itself. Compared to the results of N₂, Ar, CO₂, Air and He as interstitial gases in the MLI, Ar was the better selection as space gas because of its low EAC and thermal conductivity characteristics on the different vacuum condition ranging from high pressure to vacuum. So different residual gases can be utilized according to the vacuum level and gas energy accommodation coefficient, in order to improve the insulation performance of low vacuum MLI.     

Optimization of a Graphite Tube Blackbody Heater for a Thermogage Furnace

Design modifications are presented for a 289-mm long, 25.4-mm inner diameter blackbody heater element of a 48 kW Thermogage blackbody furnace, based on (i) cutting a small “heater zone” into the ends of the tube and (ii) using a mixture of He and Ar or N₂ to “tune” the heat losses and, hence, gradients in the furnace. A simple numerical model for the heater tube is used to model and optimize these design changes, and experimental measurements of the modified temperature profile are presented. The convenience of the Thermogage graphite-tube furnace, commonly used in many NMIs as a blackbody source for radiation–thermometer calibration and as a spectral irradiance standard, is limited by its effective emissivity, typically between 99.5% and 99.9%. The design simplicity of the furnace is that the blackbody cavity, heater, and electrical and mechanical connections are achieved through a single piece of machined graphite. As the heater also performs a mechanical function, the required material thickness leads to significant axial heat flux and resulting temperature gradients. For operation at a single temperature, changes to the tube profile could be used to optimize the gradient. However, it is desired to use the furnace over a wide temperature range (1,000–2,900°C), and the temperature-dependence of the electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity, and that of the insulation, makes this approach much more complex; for example, insulation losses are proportional to T ⁴, whereas conduction losses are proportional to T. In the results presented here, a slightly thinner graphite region near each end of the tube was used to “inject heat” to compensate for the axial conduction losses, and the depth, width, and position of this region was adjusted to achieve a compromise in performance over a wide temperature range. To assist with this optimization, the insulation purging gas was changed from N₂ to He at the lower temperatures to change the thermal conductivity of the felt insulation, and the effectiveness of this approach has been experimentally confirmed.     

Experimental investigation of extinction properties and thermal conductivity of metal-coated dielectric fibers in vacuum

This paper describes first experimental steps of an attempt to replace evacuated multifoils by metal-coated dielectric fibers as a new superisolation. Calculations of the Rosseland mean of spectral extinction coefficients for thin highly relective fibers show that radiation transport can be reduced to the same extent that is achievable with multifoils. Experimental results of extinction coefficients and thermal conductivity of Al-coated glass fibers are reported. Apparently, the metal coating does not increase seriously the small solid thermal conductivity of pure glass fibers. The procedure for optimizing this insulation is thus reduced to an optimization of its extinction properties.     

Modeling of thermo-physical properties for FRP composites under elevated and high temperature

A decomposition model for resin in glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites (GFRP) under elevated and high temperature was derived from chemical kinetics. Kinetic parameters were determined by four different methods using thermal gravimetric data at different heating rates or only one heating rate. Temperature-dependent mass transfer was obtained based on the decomposition model of resin. Considering that FRP composites are constituted by two phases – undecomposed and decomposed material – temperature-dependent thermal conductivity was obtained based on a series model and the specific heat capacity was obtained based on the Einstein model and mixture approach. The content of each phase was directly obtained from the decomposition model and mass transfer model. The effects of endothermic decomposition of the resin on the specific heat capacity and the shielding effect of evolving voids in the resin on thermal conductivity are dependent on the rate of decomposition. They were also described by the decomposition model; the effective specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity models were subsequently obtained. Each model was compared with experimental data or previous models, and good agreements were found.     

Study on the Principle Mechanisms of Heat Transfer for Cryogenic Insulations: Especially Accounting for the Temperature-Dependent Deposition–Evacuation of the Filling Gas (Self-Evacuating Systems)

This study concentrates on the principles of heat transfer within cryogenic insulation systems, especially accounting for self-evacuating systems (deposition–evacuation of the filling gas). These principles allow the extrapolation to other temperatures, gases and other materials with the input of only a few experimentally derived or carefully estimated material properties. The type of gas (e.g. air or \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\)) within the porous insulation material dominates the behaviour of the effective thermal conductivity during the cooldown of the cryogenic application. This is due to the specific temperature-dependent saturation gas pressure which determines the contribution of the gas conductivity. The selected material classes include powders, fibrous insulations, foams, aerogels and multilayer insulations in the temperature range of 20 K to 300 K. Novel within this study is an analytical function for the total and the mean thermal conductivity with respect to the temperature, type of gas, external pressure and material class of the insulation. Furthermore, the integral mean value of the thermal conductivity, the so-called mean thermal conductivity, is calculated for a mechanically evacuated insulation material and an insulation material evacuated by deposition–evacuation of the filling gas, respectively. This enables a comparison of the total thermal conductivity of cryogenic insulation materials and their applicability for a self-evacuating cryogenic insulation system.     

Radiative heat transfer of ultra‐fine powder insulation in nonplanar geometry

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to study the radiation heat transfer through some typical ultra‐fine powder insulations. The spectral extinction coefficients for these powders have been measured via infrared transmission measurements. The experimental results are compared with both the dependent and independent scattering and absorption theoretical calculations. The radiative transport process is modeled by the diffusion approximation method. Based on the experimental data, the radiant thermal conductivity between two concentric cylinders and spheres was calculated. The results show that the radiant thermal conductivity between two concentric spheres is about 50 percent higher than that between two cylinders.     

Measurement of the In-plane Thermal Diffusivity and Temperature-Dependent Convection Coefficient Using a Transient Fin Model and Infrared Thermography

The transient fin model introduced recently for determination of the in-plane thermal diffusivity of planar samples with the help of infrared thermography was modified so as to be applicable to poor heat conductors. The new model now includes a temperature-dependent heat loss by convective heat transfer, suitable for an experimental setup in which the sample is aligned parallel to a weak, forced air flow stabilizing otherwise the convective heat transfer. The temperature field in the sample was measured with an infrared camera while the sample was heated at one edge. The symmetric temperature field created was averaged over the central fifth of the sample to obtain one-dimensional temperature profiles, both transient and stationary, which were fitted by a numerical solution of the fin model. One of the fitting parameters was the thermal diffusivity, and with a known density and specific heat capacity, the thermal conductivity was thus determined. The test measurements with tantalum samples gave the result (57.5 ± 0.2) W · m⁻¹ · K⁻¹ in excellent agreement with the known value. The other fitting parameter was a temperature-dependent heat loss coefficient from which the lower limit for the temperature-dependent convection coefficient was determined. For the stationary state the result was (1.0 ± 0.2) W · m⁻² · K⁻¹ at the temperature of the flowing air, and its temperature dependence was found to be (0.22 ± 0.01) W ·m⁻² · K⁻².     

Study of a liquid insulation for the solid rocket motor

Formula of a liquid insulation for a solid rocket motor (SRM) was studied in this paper. By analyzing vulcanization mechanism and comparing mechanical and thermal properties of the rubber, composition of the insulation with liquid raw material was determined. Ignition tests of motors with liquid insulation were successful. Results indicated that the tensile strength, elongation at break, shear strength, specific heat and thermal conductivity of the liquid insulation were 6.25 MPa, 590%, 3.61 MPa, 3.4174 × 10³ J/(kg K) and 0.421 W/(m K) respectively. The success of various ground ignition tests and flight test proved that this new liquid insulation can fulfill requirements of the SRM.     

Numerical Analysis of Heat Transport Behavior in the Ferromagnetic Metallic State of La0.80Ca0.20MnO3 Manganites

The lattice contribution to the thermal conductivity (κ_ph) in La_0.80Ca_0.20 MnO₃ manganites is discussed within the Debye-type relaxation rate approximation in terms of the acoustic phonon frequency and relaxation time. The theory is formulated when heat transfer is limited by the scattering of phonons from defects, grain boundaries, charge carriers, and phonons. The lattice thermal conductivity dominates in La–Ca–MnO manganites and is an artifact of strong phonon-impurity and -phonon scattering mechanisms in the ferromagnetic metallic state. The electronic contribution to the thermal conductivity (κ_e) is estimated following the Wiedemann–Franz law. This estimate sets an upper bound on κ_e, and in the vicinity of the Curie temperature (240 K) κ_e is about 1% of total heat transfer of manganites. Another important contribution in the metallic phase should come from spin waves (κ_m). It is noticed that κ_m increases with a T² dependence on the temperature. These channels for heat transfer are algebraically added and κ_tot develops a broad peak at about 55 K, before falling off at lower temperatures. The behavior of the thermal conductivity in manganites is determined by competition among the several operating scattering mechanisms for the heat carriers and a balance between electron, magnon, and phonon contributions. The numerical analysis of heat transfer in the ferromagnetic metallic phase of manganites shows similar results as those revealed from experiments.      

Thermo-mechanical optimization of porous building materials based on micromechanical concepts: Application to load-carrying insulation materials

In this paper, a multiscale model for the prediction and, finally, optimization of mechanical (elastic) and thermal (heat conductivity) properties of porous building materials is presented. These technical composites are characterized by the increase of porous space in the respective material system, resulting in a reduction of Young’s modulus, on the one hand, and in an increase of the thermal insulation capacity, on the other hand, yielding either a load-carrying insulation material or a structural material with enhanced resistance to heat transfer. Determination of engineering properties within the proposed multiscale approach departs from the underlying material composition, on the one hand, and the intrinsic properties of the constituents, i.e., the material phases, on the other hand, employing homogenization techniques based on continuum micromechanics.     

Radiation-conduction heat transfer in fibrous heat-resistant insulation under thermal effect

The conjugate diffusion model of radiation transfer and the approximation of radiant thermal conductivity are used to investigate the radiation-conduction heat transfer in a flat layer of fibrous heat-resistant insulation under the effect of fire. The results of calculation of the characteristics of unsteady-state heat transfer and of the duration of heat resistance of the substrate demonstrate the accuracy of the approximation of radiant thermal conductivity which is good for practical applications. The fireproof efficiency of fibrous quartz heat insulation is investigated. The calculation results demonstrate that the application of this insulation provides for high limits of fire resistance of metal structures.     

Experimental investigation and modeling of effective thermal conductivity and its temperature dependence in a carbon-based foam

The effects of test temperature and a graphitization heat treatment on thermal and thermo-mechanical properties of a carbon-based foam material called CFOAM^® are investigated experimentally. Thermal diffusivity is determined using a laser flash method, heat capacity via the use of differential scanning calorimetry, while (linear) thermal expansion is measured using a dilatometric technique. Experimental results are next used to compute the effective thermal conductivity and the coefficient of thermal expansion as a function of test temperature. The computed thermal conductivity results are then compared with their counterparts obtained using our recent model. The agreement between the experiment-based and the model-based results is found to be fairly good only in the case when the graphitization temperature is high relative to the maximum test temperature and, hence, CFOAM^® does not undergo a significant additional graphitization during testing. A potential use of CFOAM^® as an insulation material in thermal protection systems for the space vehicles is discussed.     

Numerical Solution of Inverse Radiative–Conductive Transient Heat Transfer Problem in a Grey Participating Medium

The problem of simultaneous identification of the thermal conductivity Λ(T) and the asymmetry parameter g of the Henyey–Greenstein scattering phase function is under consideration. A one-dimensional configuration in a grey participating medium with respect to silica fibers for which the thermophysical and optical properties are known from the literature is accepted. To find the unknown parameters, it is assumed that the thermal conductivity Λ(T) may be represented in a base of functions {1, T, T ², . . .,T ^K } so the inverse problem can be applied to determine a set of coefficients {Λ₀, Λ₁, . . ., Λ _K ; g}. The solution of the inverse problem is based on minimization of the ordinary squared differences between the measured and model temperatures. The measured temperatures are considered known. Temperature responses measured or theoretically generated at several different distances from the heat source along an x axis of the specimen set are known as a result of the numerical solution of the transient coupled heat transfer in a grey participating medium. An implicit finite volume method (FVM) is used for handling the energy equation, while a finite difference method (FDM) is applied to find the sensitivity coefficients with respect to the unknown set of coefficients. There are free parameters in a model, so these parameters are changed during an iteration process used by the fitting procedure. The Levenberg– Marquardt fitting procedure is iteratively searching for best fit of these parameters. The source term in the governing conservation-of-energy equation taking into account absorption, emission, and scattering of radiation is calculated by means of a discrete ordinate method together with an FDM while the scattering phase function approximated by the Henyey–Greenstein function is expanded in a series of Legendre polynomials with coefficients {c _l } = (2l + 1)g ^l . The numerical procedure proposed here also allows consideration of some cases of coupled heat transfer in non-grey participating media. The inverse method may be treated, after performing a suitable validation, as an alternative method in relation to other classical measurement methods for investigation of thermophysical parameters of solid states.