Alleviating Thermal Resistances of Thermally Distorted Pressed Contacts

Abstract

A suite of interactive computer codes, described previously, for simulating the heat-transfer behaviours of pressed contacts between dissimilar materials has been used to examine how thermal contact resistances may be minimized by:

• (a)

optimizing the roughnesses of the contacting faces,

(b)

introducing appropriate interfacial fillers,

(c)

suitably pre-machining (under isothermal room-temperature conditions) the surfaces which will subsequently be pressed together.

It has been shown that an inexpensive means of eliminating the component of the macroscopic constrictional resistance, which would arise from thermal distortions of the contacting materials in the presence of a temperature gradient, can be achieved by selecting optimal surface roughnesses.