Highly porous zirconia based thermal barrier coatings have recently been synthesised with zigzag morphology pores which appear to impede heat flow through the thickness of the coating. A combined analytical/numerical study of heat conduction across these microstructures is presented and compared with thermal conductivity measurements. The effects of pore volume fraction, pore type, pore orientation and pore spacing, together with the wave length and the amplitude of zig-zag pore microstructures on overall thermal performance are quantified. The results indicate that even a few volume percent of zig-zag inter-column pores oriented normal to the substrate surface reduce the overall thermal conductivity of the coatings by more than 50%.

The thermal shock resistance of a brittle solid is analysed for an orthotropic plate suddenly exposed to a convective medium of different temperature. Two types of plate are considered: (i) a plate containing a distribution of flaws such as pores, for which a stress-based fracture criterion is appropriate, and (ii) a plate containing a single dominant crack aligned with the through-thickness direction, for which a critical stress intensity factor criterion is appropriate. First, the temperature and stress histories in the plate are given for the full range of Biot number. For the case of a cold shock, the stress field is tensile near the surface of the plate and gives rise to a mode I stress intensity factor for a pre-existing crack at the surface of the plate. Alternatively, for the case of hot shock, the stress field is tensile at the centre of the plate and gives rise to a mode I stress intensity factor for a pre-existing crack at the centre of the plate. Lower bound solutions are obtained for the maximum thermal shock that the plate can sustain without catastrophic failure according to the two distinct criteria: (i) maximum local tensile stress equals the tensile strength of the solid, and (ii) maximum stress intensity factor for the pre-existing representative crack equals the fracture toughness of the solid. Merit indices of material properties are deduced, and optimal materials are selected on the basis of these criteria, for the case of a high Biot number (high surface heat transfer) and a low Biot number (low surface heat transfer). The relative merit of candidate materials depends upon the magnitude of the Biot number, and upon the choice of failure criterion. The eect of porosity on thermal shock resistance is also explored: it is predicted that the presence of porosity is gener-ally bene

The effective thermal conductivity of steel alloy FeCrAlY (Fe-20wt.% Cr-5wt.% Al-2wt.% Y-20wt.%) foams with a range of pore sizes and porosities was measured between 300 and 800K, under both vacuum and atmospheric conditions. The results show that the effective thermal conductivity increases rapidly as temperature is increased, particularly in the higher temperature range (500-800K) where the transport of heat is dominated by thermal radiation. The effective conductivity at temperature 800K can be three times higher than that at room temperature (300K). Results obtained under vacuum conditions reveal that the effective conductivity increases with increasing pore size or decreasing porosity. The contribution of natural convection to heat conduction was found to be significant, with the effective thermal conductivity at ambient pressure twice the value of vacuum condition. The results also show that natural convection in metal foams is strongly dependent upon porosity.

The fluid-flow and heat-transfer features of cellular metal lattice structures made from copper by transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding and brazing of plane weave copper meshes (screens) were experimentally characterized under steady-state forced air convection. Due to the inherent structural anisotropy of this metal textile derived structure, the characterizations were performed for several configurations to identify the preferable orientation for maximizing thermal performance as a heat dissipation medium. Results show that the friction factor of bonded wire screens is not simply a function of porosity as stochastic materials such as open-celled metal foams and packed beds, but also a function of orientation (open area ratio). The overall heat transfer depends on porosity and surface area density, but only weakly on orientation. Comparisons with stochastic metal foams and other heat dissipation media such as packed beds, louvered fins and microtruss lattice cellular materials suggest that wire-screen meshes compete favorably with the best available heat dissipation media. The overall thermal efficiency index of the copper textiles-based media is approximately three times larger than that of stochastic copper foams, principally because of the lower pressure drop encountered during coolant propagation through the periodic wire-screen structure.

The sound absorption capacity of one type of aluminum alloy foams-trade name Alporas-is studied experimentally. The foam in its as-received cast form contains closed porosities, and hence does not absorb sound well. To make the foam more transparent to air motion, techniques based on either rolling or hole drilling are used. Under rolling, the faces of some of the cells break to form small sharp-edged cracks as observed from a scanning electronic microscope. These cracks become passage ways for the in-and-out movement of air particles, resulting in sound absorption improvement. The best performance is nevertheless achieved via hole drilling where nearly all of the sound can be absorbed at selected frequencies. Combining rolling with hole drilling does not appear to lend additional benefits for sound absorption. Image analysis is carried out to characterize the changes in cell morphologies due to rolling/compression, and the drop in elastic modulus due to the formation of cracks is recorded. The effects of varying the relative foam density and panel thickness on sound absorption are measured, and optimal relative density and thickness of the panel are identified. Analytical models are used to explain the measured increase in sound absorption due to rolling and/or drilling. Sound absorbed by viscous flow across small cracks appears to dominate over that dissipated via ]other mechanisms.