Porous structures formed by sintering of powders, which involves material-bonding under the application of heat, are commonly employed as capillary wicks in two-phase heat transport devices such as heat pipes. These sintered wicks are often fabricated in an ad hoc manner, and their microstructure is not optimized for fluid and thermal performance. Understanding the role of sintering kinetics—and the resulting microstructural evolution—on wick transport properties is important for fabrication of structures with optimal performance. A cellular automaton model is developed in this work for predicting microstructural evolution during sintering. The model, which determines mass transport during sintering based on curvature gradients in digital images, is first verified against benchmark cases, such as the evolution of a square shape into an area-preserving circle. The model is then employed to predict the sintering dynamics of a side-by-side, two-particle configuration conventionally used for the study of sintering. Results from previously published studies on sintering of cylindrical wires are used for validation. Randomly packed multiparticle configurations are then considered in two and three dimensions. Sintering kinetics are described by the relative change in overall surface area of the compact compared to the initial random packing. The effect of sintering parameters, particle size, and porosity on fundamental transport properties, viz., effective thermal conductivity and permeability, is analyzed. The effective thermal conductivity increases monotonically as either the sintering time or temperature is increased. Permeability is observed to increase with particle size and porosity. As sintering progresses, the slight increase observed in the permeability of the microstructure is attributed to a reduction in the surface area.
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Research-Article
Simulated Microstructural Evolution and Design of Porous Sintered Wicks
Karthik K. Bodla,
Karthik K. Bodla
Cooling Technologies Research Center,
an NSF IUCRC,
School of Mechanical Engineering and
Birck Nanotechnology Center,
an NSF IUCRC,
School of Mechanical Engineering and
Birck Nanotechnology Center,
Purdue University
,West Lafayette, IN 47907
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Suresh V. Garimella
Suresh V. Garimella
1
Cooling Technologies Research Center,
an NSF IUCRC,
School of Mechanical Engineering and
Birck Nanotechnology Center,
e-mail: sureshg@purdue.edu
an NSF IUCRC,
School of Mechanical Engineering and
Birck Nanotechnology Center,
Purdue University
,West Lafayette, IN 47907
e-mail: sureshg@purdue.edu
1Corresponding author.
Search for other works by this author on:
Karthik K. Bodla
Cooling Technologies Research Center,
an NSF IUCRC,
School of Mechanical Engineering and
Birck Nanotechnology Center,
an NSF IUCRC,
School of Mechanical Engineering and
Birck Nanotechnology Center,
Purdue University
,West Lafayette, IN 47907
Suresh V. Garimella
Cooling Technologies Research Center,
an NSF IUCRC,
School of Mechanical Engineering and
Birck Nanotechnology Center,
e-mail: sureshg@purdue.edu
an NSF IUCRC,
School of Mechanical Engineering and
Birck Nanotechnology Center,
Purdue University
,West Lafayette, IN 47907
e-mail: sureshg@purdue.edu
1Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER. Manuscript received August 12, 2013; final manuscript received February 25, 2014; published online March 26, 2014. Assoc. Editor: Bruce L. Drolen.
J. Heat Transfer. Jul 2014, 136(7): 072601 (10 pages)
Published Online: March 26, 2014
Article history
Received:
August 12, 2013
Revision Received:
February 25, 2014
Citation
Bodla, K. K., and Garimella, S. V. (March 26, 2014). "Simulated Microstructural Evolution and Design of Porous Sintered Wicks." ASME. J. Heat Transfer. July 2014; 136(7): 072601. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4026969
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