Heat conduction in closed‐cell cellular metals

The purpose of this research was to describe the thermal transport properties in closed-cell cellular metals. Influence of cell size variations with different pore gases has been investigated with transient computational simulations. Heat conduction through the base material and gas in pores (cavities) was considered, while the convection and radiation were neglected in the initial stage of this research. First, parametric analysis for definingthe proper mesh density and time step were carried out. Then, two-dimensional computational models of the cellular structure, consisting of the base material and the pore gas, have been solved using ANSYS CFX software within the framework of finite volume elements. The results have confirmed theexpectations that the majority of heat is being transferred through the metallic base material with almost negligible heat conduction through the gas in pores. The heat conduction in closed-cell cellular metals is therefore extremely depended on the relative density but almost insensitive regarding tothe gas inside the pore, unless the relative density is very low.