Exploratory study of liquid flow and heat transfer in lace-type metallic foams

为了应对微电子和类似应用中日益增长的高热流密度冷却需求，我们将研究用于液体冷却的金属泡沫的适用性和性能。具体地说，我们将重点研究一种具有花边型微结构的新型金属泡沫，并主要采用实验方法。本项目的总体目标是表征新型带型金属泡沫的传热特性，与其独特的微观结构有关。具体目标是：表征花边型金属泡沫中液体流动的流动阻力和传热；表征花边型金属泡沫的毛细吸湿和相变(沸腾)行为和性能；表征花边型金属泡沫的微观结构，并将泡沫中的传热和流动行为与其微观结构相关联。通过这样做，我们将确定这种独特类型的金属泡沫最有希望的用途，并为未来对这一主题的深入研究提供基础。

To address the growing need for high heat flux cooling in microelectronics and similar applications, we will study the applicability and performance of metallic foams for liquid cooling.  Specifically, we will focus on a novel type of metallic foam with lace-type microstructures and primarily adopt an experimental approach.  The global objective of this project is to characterize the heat transfer characteristics of novel laces-type metallic foams with liquids, in relation to their unique microstructure.  The specific objectives are to: characterize the flow resistance and heat transfer for liquid flow in lace-type metallic foams; characterize the capillary wicking and phase change (boiling) behaviour and performance of laces-type metallic foams; characterize the microstructure of the lace-type metallic foams, and relate the heat transfer and flow behaviour in the foams to their microstructure.  By doing so, we will identify the most promissing use for this unique type of metallic foam and provide a foundation for future in depth research on this topic.