Inf. J.

Hear Mass

Pergamon

Transfer.
Vol. 40, No. 18, pp. 44494460,
1997
10 1997 Elsev~er Science Ltd. All nghts reserved
Printed in Great Britain
0017~-9310197 .%17.00+0.00

PII : s0017-9310(97)ooo57-4

Enhanced boiling heat transfer from microporous surfaces: effects of a coating composition
and method
J. Y. CHANG and S. M. YOUt
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington,
Arlington, TX 76019-0023, U.S.A.
(Received 3 1 July 1996 and injnal form 2 1 January 1997)

Ah&act-Composition
studies (coating component and mixing ratio variations) of micro-porous coatings
are performed to produce higher boiling enhancement from the flush-mounted, square heater. Two different
coating methods are researched and nearly identical boiling performances are obtained with the optimized
coating composition. The physical strength of the micro-porous coating is examined through a durability
test and an adhesion test. Finally, the boiling performance of a micro-porous-enhanced surface is compared
with that of the commercial High Flux surface. 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

1. INTRODUCTION

The influence of surface condition on boiling heat

transfer has been proven to be considerable. Corty and
Foust [l] and Berensen [2] extensively investigated the
effect of surface finish on nucleate boiling performance. Both studies observed decreased superheats, due
to increased surface roughnesses during boiling tests
with n-pentane. Although the surface roughnesses
generated by lapping or sanding appeared to provide
an increased number of active nucleation sites, the
performance was doubted due to dissipated enhancement after a long operation. Special surface arrangements have been developed to provide a high density
of stable, artificially formed nucleation sites whose
performances do not deteriorate with time. Webb [3]
addressed three types of surface enhancement techniques developed for use in pool boiling : (1) attached
nucleation promoters ; (2) metal or nonmetal coatings ; and (3) nucleation sites formed by mechanical
working or chemical etching of the base surface. Of
these, the porous metallic coating is considered to
be the most viable enhancement technique, which is
formed by sintering, brazing, flame spraying, foaming
or electrolic deposition.
Since the first development by Milton [4], porous
metallic coating has been an enhancement technique
of great interest to many. researchers. Various geometric parameters have been considered to produce
higher enhancement. Particle size, particle shape,
coating thickness and porosity were the primary variables. Webb [5] examined a wide variety of data for
the porous coatings composed of nearly spherical particles. He proposed that particle diameter has very

t Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

little effect on performance, but that the preferred

coating thickness is in the range of 34 particle diameters. Recently, Thome [6] reviewed more updated
data sets of the porous coatings and found that the
optimum coating geometries on one study only
vaguely corresponded to those found in others. He
concluded that the coating thickness should be maintained at a thickness thinner than 1.5-3 mm to avoid
another thermal resistance by the particles and entrapped vapor. The particle size he considered ranged from
12 to 1000 pm. However, the performance benefit of
these coating methods is thought to be due to effective
boiling surface area enhancement within the thick
porous layer. Effective boiling surface area is the
vapor-liquid contact surface area which exists within
the pores formed between the stacked particles.
As summarized by Chang and You [7], a series of
micro-porous
enhancement
coatings
has been
developed by You et al. [8], OConnor and You [9],
OConnor et al. [lo] and Chang and You [l 11. They
used smaller particles (l-50 pm) than those of the
previous porous coatings. The particles, mixed with a
binder (epoxy) and a carrier (isopropyl alcohol or
M.E.K.), were easily implemented to a heater surface,
resulting in a benign application process. This simple
and economical technique produced highly enhanced
nucleation
with lower incipient superheat and
enhanced critical heat flux (CHF) over an uncoated
reference surface. Also, for the critical application of
immersion cooling of electronic modules, the present
micro-porous coating technique has an advantage
over any possible damage which may be induced during the surface treatment.
The present research is an experimental study of
pool boiling heat transfer from flat, micro-porous surfaces immersed in a highly wetting fluid. Micro-scale
enhancement techniques with five different coatings

4449

4450

J. Y. CHANG and S. M. YOU

NOMENCLATURE

CHF
CHF,,,
AT,,,
EVR
h
h,,,
mP
4

critical heat flux [W cm-]

reference surface CHF [W cm 1
incipient superheat [K]
effective volume ratio defined in
equation (2)
heat-transfer
coefficient,
q/(T,T,,,) [W cm- K-.]
heat-transfer
coefficient of reference
surface [W cm- Km]
mass of particles in coating [g]
heat flux [W cm7]

AND

saturation temperature
[K]
wall temperature
[K]
binder (epoxy) volume in coating

VP

powder

b-4

Greek symbols
6 J)
superheated liquid layer [m]
E
porosity of powder [%]
density of particles [g ml I.
6

DISCUSSION

The test equipment,

test procedure
and uncertainties of the experiment results were described by
Chang and You [7]. All experiments were conducted
using saturated FC-72 at 1 atm.
2.1. Component variations
Optimum cavity geometry and high nucleation site
density are of great importance for boiling heat-transfer enhancement.
Several coating compositions
have
been used for micro-scale enhancements.
In the tech-

nique developed
by OConnor
and You [9], the
enhancement
paint was manufactured
by combining
silver flake particles with epoxy (Omegabond
101) and
isopropyl alcohol. OConnor et al. [lo] used diamond
particles instead of silver flakes. In the study of Chang
and You [ 1 I], copper particles and aluminum particles
were used. Isopropyl alcohol and Omegabond
101
were replaced with MEK (methylethylketone)
and
Devcon Brushable-Ceramic
epoxy, respectively. All
the coatings listed above are identified as SOA,
DOA, CBM and ABM, respectively, named using
the initial letters of the three components of each paint
(e.g. CBM for copper-brushable
ceramic-MEK).
Table 1 shows the compositions
of each coating. In
the present study, a new coating termed DBM is
added with its composition
introduced
in Table 1.
These coatings were painted on the copper reference
surfaces following the application technique given by
OConnor and You [9]. MEK and isopropyl alcohol
are highly volatile solvents which evaporate quickly,
leaving micro-structures.
To completely
cure in a
reduced time, the coated heaters were baked in an
oven at 423 K for about 1 h.
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the
top views of the coatings (in Table 1) are shown in
Fig. 1. Aluminum particle sized in the ABM coating
(l-20 pm) are smaller than those for the CBM coating

Table I, Coating products with different

Product

Powder

ABM

Aluminum.
1.5 g
(p, = 2.7 g ml-)
Copper, 1.5 g
(p, = 8.9 g ml )
Diamond, 1.5g
(p, = 3.5 g ml-)
Diamond, 1.5 g
(pp = 3.5 g ml-)
Silver, 1.5 g
(pp = 10.5 g ml-)

CBM
DBM
DOA
SOA

t Brushable-Ceramic

from Devcon

Particle
size

, IOmegabond

volume in coating

WI.

are used in this investigation to augment boiling heattransfer performance characteristics

(incipient superheat, nucleate boiling heat transfer and CHF). First,
the current objective is to determine the coating components
and precise amount of each component
necessary to produce paint solutions that optimize
the enhancement.
Second, with the optimized paint
composition,
various painting methods
are to be
developed for future applications. Third, the physical
strength of the coating is to be examined through a
durability test and an adhesion test. Finally, the boiling performance
of a micro-porous-enhanced
surface
is to be compared with that of a commercial porousenhanced surface.

2. RESULTS

T,,,
T,
Vh

101 from Omega

ingredients

Binder

Carrier

BCT
0.4 ml
BCP
0.4 ml
BCP
0.4 ml
OB$
0.1 ml
OB:
0.1 ml

MEK
10ml
MEK
10ml
MEK
10 ml
Alcohol
10 ml
Alcohol
IO ml

Enhanced

50 pm
t

boiling heat transfer

from micro-porous

445 1

surfaces

W
Fig.

1. SEM images of micro-porous-enhanced

surfaces
SOA.

(l-50 pm). However, large copper particles within the

CBM coating have additional
cavity structures on
their surfaces with sizes in the order of microns. The
photograph
of the DOA (or DBM) coating shows
more uniform particle shapes and sizes of diamond
(8-l 2 pm). The SOA coating has randomly orientated
layers of silver flakes (3-10 pm). Since a thin layer
of epoxy is evenly distributed
over all particles, the
particles are clearly visible from the SEM image of
each coating. For the diamond coatings (DOA and
DBM), nearly identical SEM images are observed
[Fig. 1(c)l. As shown in the figures, all of the coatings
form numerous re-entrant-type
cavity structures. The
coatings are multi-layered
micro-porous
structures
having thicknesses of approximately
100 pm for the
CBM coating, 50 pm for the ABM and DOA (or
DBM) coatings and 30 pm for the SOA coating. The
coating
thicknesses
were
measured
with
the
micrometer
and confirmed
with SEM pictures of
cross-sections
of the coated samples. As shown in
Fig. 1 and Table 1, different particle sizes, shapes and
porosities were observed for the coatings. With the
present coating method, different coating thicknesses
were generated for the coatings shown in Fig. 1, due
to the different particle characteristics.
In Fig. 2, the boiling curves of five different surfaces
are compared with that of the reference surface whose
CHF is 13.4 W cmm2. The reference surface boiling
curve was generated by Chang and You [I I] with an
uncoated. plain surface. For each surface, more than

: (a) ABM ; (b) CBM ; (c) DOA (or DBM) ; (d)

two runs were made with a time interval of about 1 h

between runs. The incipient superheats for the coated
surfaces were 6.6 k 2.0 K for 95% confidence interval,
which is about 80% lower than that of the reference
surfaces (- 30 K). Upon incipience, all the microporous-enhanced
surfaces produced nucleate boiling
over the entire surface area, generating discrete tiny
bubbles less than 0.2 mm in diameter. The referencesurface natural convection regime was replaced by the
nucleate boiling regime of the coated surfaces for heatflux values greater than 0.5 W cm- as seen in Fig. 2.
At those heat fluxes, the uncoated surface experienced
up to about 10 times higher wall superheats than the
coated surfaces. As seen from Fig. 2, the coatings in
Table 1 produced
nearly identical
pool boiling
enhancement.
Figure 2 indicates that the active cavity
size and density generated by the coatings in Table 1
match each other well. Throughout the nucleate boiling regime, the coated surfaces consistently
augmented heat-transfer
coefficients by approximately
330%, as compared to those of the reference surface.
This enhancement
was the result of dramatically
increased active nucleation site density produced by
the surface micro-structures
provided by the coating.
The micro-porous
enhancement
coatings produced
repeatable CHF values with z 100% enhancement
over the reference surface.
For stable operation during higher performance,
a
chemical inertness was required for the binder. Three
commercial epoxies (Omegabond
101, Devcon Brush-

4452

J. Y. CHANG and S. M. YOU

4
3
2

@$

lo

3
-

z
=

IO0

10-lt
loo

10

56

Surface superheat

56

IO2

(K)

Fig. 2. Effects of boiling enhancement coatings.

..a.- Epoxy 2 (CHF = 26.5

Surface superheat

( K)

Fig. 3. Epoxy search with CBM coating.

able-Ceramic,
Devcon Titanium-Putty)
were selected
as the candidate binders for the present study. These
epoxies are known to be inert to a toxic chemical
attack. Using the same mixing ratio shown in Table
I, three CBM coatings with three different epoxy components were applied to three copper plain surfaces.

Boiling performances
of the coated surfaces are compared in Fig. 3. Nearly identical boiling curves indicate that the micro-porous
structure is the dominant
factor in determining
the boiling performance
of a
micro-porous-enhanced
surface,
rather
than the
binder characteristics.
The nearly identical boiling

4453

Enhanced boiling heat transfer from micro-porous surfaces

curves also show that the three epoxies used in this

study can be used interchangeably

of a coating.

for the fabrication

2.2. Mixing ratio variations

ABM and CBM coatings in Table 1 were used in
this investigation. To present consistent denotations
of the paint compositions, two definitions were used :
porosity and effective volume ratio. The porosity of a
powder is defined as the ratio of porous volume to an
effective powder volume (particle volume and porous
volume combined). The porosity data tells how much
of the volume is vacant within the powder. The EVR
(effective volume ratio) is defined as the ratio of the
effective powder volume to the binder (epoxy) volume
used in manufacturing the coating. The EVR data
shows a volume mixing ratio between the powder and
the binder. The porosity data were measured with a
glass tube graduated with a minimum degree of 0.1
ml and an electronic weighing scale with a readability
of 0.0001 g. A certain amount of powder volume was
put into the glass tube and settled well by tapping the
glass tube on the floor. If no change in volume was
observed, then the powder volume (P,) and mass (m,)
were measured. The volume of the binder was measured using a syringe having a least count of 0.1 ml.
From the measured data (VP, mP and V,), the porosity
(E) and the EVR of the coating were calculated using
the following equations :
&=

P- (Q/P,)

!a
EVR

(%/P,) +-(I --El

b
.

(2)

Table 2 shows the three composition paints used in

this study. The same porosity of 70% was measured
for both the aluminum powder (l-20 pm) and the
copper powder (l-50 pm). At least five measurements
were conducted using five different volumes for each
powder. The estimated porosities of the two powders
fall within the same scatter band of + 2%. To examine
the effects of different EVR values, the weight of the
particles content and the volumetric MEK content
were fixed at 1.5 g and 10 ml, respectively. With a fixed
volume of MEK and a fixed weight of the particles.

the volumetric content of the binder was varied. Five

ABM coatings with five different EVR values (6.2,
4.6, 3.7, 2.6 and 2.1) and four CBM coatings with
four different EVR values (5.6, 1.9, 1.4 and 1.1) were
manufactured. Table 2 shows that at least four different heater surfaces were used to test each respective
EVR value.
The reference surface was coated by dripping the
paint solution onto the surface with a small brush,
as done by OConnor and You [9]. Very little paint
solution was required to cover the whole reference
surface area (1 .O cm2). The criteria for applying each
solution was to maintain a nearly constant coating
thickness, thereby eliminating possible superheat variations due to the additional thermal resistance produced by the thicker coating layer. This was
accomplished by saturating the brush with the paint
and depositing 1 to 2 drops on each surface. After
applying, the heater was shaken horizontally to produce a uniform coating thickness over the reference
surface. The coating thickness was measured with the
micrometer and confirmed with an SEM picture of
a cross-section of the coated sample. The measured
thicknesses were x 50 and z 100 pm for the ABM and
CBM coatings, respectively.
Figure 4 illustrates incipient superheat variations
over different EVR values. The ABM and CBM coatings show a similar trend of incipient superheat variation as the EVR changes. The smaller the EVR value
is, the more amount of binder contained within the
paint. The EVR value is inversely proportional to the
amount of binder contained in the paint. The zero
EVR value represents no particles included within the
paint. The uncoated reference surface was used to
replace this case, which produced the highest superheat of 3 1.2 + 8.2 K for 95% confidence interval. The
data in Fig. 4 indicate that incipient superheats of
the micro-porous-enhanced
surfaces are smaller than
z 10 K at EVR conditions greater than about 1.1.
A cylindrical heater surface was fabricated to visualize the incipient behaviors of the micro-porous surface. A copper tube with a 12.7-mm outer-diameter
was heated electrically with a cartridge heater. Using
the previously described coating procedure, the ABM
paint with an EVR value of 4.6 was applied over half
of the copper tube. A photograph of the half-coated

Table 2. ABM and CBM coating produces with different mixing ratios
Product

Particle

Binder

Carrier

EVR

No. of
tests

ABM

Aluminum
I-20 pm
(1.5 g)

MEK
(10 ml)

CBM

Copper
l-50 pm
(1.5 g)

0.3 ml
0.4 ml
0.5 ml
0.7 ml
0.9 ml
0.1 ml
0.3 ml
0.4 ml
0.5 ml

6.2
4.6
3.7
2.6
2.1
5.6
1.9
1.4
1.1

5
7
5
4
4
4
5
5
4

MEK
(10 ml)

4454

J. Y. CHANG and S. M. YOU

EVR
Fig. 4. Incipient superheat vs EVR.

Fig. 5. Photographic view of boiling incipience from half-coated surface (9 = 0.2 W cm )

copper tube is shown in Fig. 5. Only the right half of

the tube has been coated and a small heat flux of 0.2
W cmm2 has been applied to the tube. The bare surface
remains in natural convection, while the coated surface is boiling vigorously. This picture illustrates that
the ABM coating effectively increased the number of
nucleation sites, which were easily activated even at a
small heat flux.
Heat transfer from the micro-porous
surfaces and
the reference surface were compared
under fullydeveloped nucleate boiling in FC-72. Figure 6 shows
the enhancements
of the heat-transfer
coefficients at
heat-flux conditions of 5 and 10 W cm . As shown
in the figure, the micro-porous
surfaces produced consistently enhanced
heat-transfer
coefficients
which
were 34.5 time larger than the uncoated surfaces
heat-transfer
coefficient at EVR conditions
greater

than 1.1. Pool boiling curves at EVR values of 6.2

(ABM) and 1.1 (CBM) are plotted in Figs. 7 and 8,
respectively. Figures 7 and 8 show how large the boiling curves scatter each other as EVR decreases. In
Figs. 7 and 8, the scatters at lower heat fluxes (< 2
W cm-*) were mainly due to non-uniform
incipient
behaviors before activation over the entire heater surfaces. In Fig. 8, the large differences in nucleate boiling
curves are a result of an increased number of clogged
pores due to the increased epoxy content within the
coated layer.
Thome [6] identified the heat-transfer
mechanisms
responsible for augmenting the boiling process from
porous metallic surfaces. Latent heat is transported
by three types of evaporation mechanisms : thin film,
capillary and external evaporation.
Additional
convection mechanisms are generated as well, those on

4455

Enhanced boiling heat transfer from micro-porous surfaces

I1

11

EVR
Fig. 6. Heat-transfer coefficient enhancement vs EVR

lo2

4
3
2

--IX- Heater 2
.O. Heater 3

.O.

Heater 5

. . ..____...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,
%

lo

is
z.i
=

,I Reference
surface
/

4
3

-5-1
, i

L___--7

/
/

5
=

loo

4
3
2

10-l

IO0

56

10

Surface superheat

56

lo*

(K)

Fig. 7. Boiling from ABM surfaces (EVR = 6.2).

the exterior surface due to bubble agitation

and
vapor-liquid
exchange (micro-convection)
and those
inside the structure due to laminar entrance effects.
Even though the particles in Table 2 were measured
to have 70% porosity, the ABM and the CBM coating
layers are thought to have much lower porosity due

to the binder mixed within. Rough calculations show

that the binder volume and the lumped particle volume used in Table 2 are comparable with each other.
The reduction in porosity may lead to lower internal
vaporization
rates (thin film and capillary vaporization) because there is less liquid within the structure

4456

J. Y. CHANG and S. M. YOU

.O.

Heater 3

..P.Heater 4

_pc./

.._......

Reference
-

zi
E

5
=

. . .

IO0

loo

56

10

Surface superheat

. . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

-4

56

lo*

(K)

Fig. 8. Boiling from CBM surfaces (EVR = 1.I)

0.5

EVR
Fig. 9. CHF enhancement vs EVR

to vaporize. Based upon the heat-transfer mechanisms

given by Thome, dominant heat-transfer enhancement mechanisms associated with the current coatings
are thought to be external vaporization and microconvection due to increased active nucleation sites.

The CHF enhancement data are plotted in Fig. 9.

Micro-porous surfaces show a 1.7-2 times increase in
the CHF values over the uncoated reference surface
across the range of EVR values tested. Near the CHF,
the vapor clouds resting over the coated surface inhibit

Enhanced

IO2L

boiling heat transfer

1 ,I

11111111

from micro-porous

I I I

1 1 I

surfaces

>lII11

4457

I I-

- .-A.. Drip-coated surface (CHF = 26.3)

- --O- Spray-coated surface (CHF = 27.0)
4

CHF,

..

_....

I/

1o-l

IO0

I(lXl
2

I
4

56

a lllfll
10

Surface superheat
Fig. 10. Effects of coating

the supply of fresh liquid into the heated area : therefore, most of the vacant space within the micro-structure is thought to be nearly dried out. Thus, CHF
conditions are determined mainly by the outer microstructures, rather than by the interior structures.
2.3. Painting methods
A new coating method was sought to make the
current enhancement technique widely applicable.
The dripping method was applicable only for a horizontal flat area upon which the paint solution could
rest. Another common geometry where a boiling
enhancement technique would be applied is a tube
shape, which has a circumferential heat-transfer area.
A spray method using compressed air was developed
and tested with the current heater. The paint solution
was poured into a sprayer vessel which was then compressed by air up to about 4 atm. The spraying jet was
controlled by a trigger mechanism on the sprayer.
The solution, carried by air, was sprayed upon the
reference surface. The spraying time and the distance
between the jet exit point and the target surface determined the attachment area and the thickness of the
enhancement layer. However, a specific distance was
required to produce a uniform coating layer. The
ABM solution was more suitable under the current
spraying conditions than the CBM coating. The O.lmm diameter nozzle exit was easily clogged with the
copper particle content due to its higher density and
larger size. TWO ABM-coated surfaces at the same
EVR value of 4.6 were made using two different coating methods: dripping and spraying. Pool boiling
curves of those AMB surfaces are compared in Fig.
10. Both methods show nearly identical incipient

methods

I
4

56

lo2

(K)

(ABM, EVR = 4.6).

superheat, nucleate boiling and CHF. These tests

prove that the two coating methods can be used interchangeably.
2.4. Durability test
To investigate the long-term performance of the
micro-porous coating, the ABM-coated surface with
an EVR value of 4.6 was powered at 15 W cm-2 and
allowed to boil at that heat flux for about 110 h. The
applied heat flux, higher than the CHF of the reference
surface, was chosen to provide a severe operating condition. Slugs of bubbles covered the whole heater surface and strong fluid motion was induced by rapidly
growing and departing bubbles. During this durability
test, wall temperature and bulk liquid temperature
were measured every 15 min. These data are plotted
in Fig. 11. During the prolonged boiling, the wall
temperature slowly increased by about 1C. However,
when the test was restarted at the same heat-flux conditions, initial wall temperature was observed to be
identical with that of the previous run. Before and
after the durability test, the pool boiling performance
of the heater was examined and nearly identical pool
boiling curves was observed. The consistent performance during the durability tests displayed confidence that the attachment of the porous-coated layer
was fairly rigid.
2.5. Adhesion test
To assess the adhesion of the coating layer to the
copper substrate, a tape test was employed : ASTM D
3359-95 [12]. Flatback Masking Tape (Scotch brand
no. 250,3M) with 25.4-mm width was used as a tester

4458

J. Y. CHANG

and S. M. YOU

-A - Heater surface temperature

-0. Bulk liquid temperature

20

40

60

Elapsed time
Fig.

11.Durability

test of ABM-coating

tape. This tape is known to have a 71 N/l00 mm

adhesion force to steel substrates based on the ASTM
D 3330M-90 test method [13].
The copper substrate was carefully cleaned with
1500-grit silicon carbide sandpaper,
flushed with
MEK and dried. After repeating this flush-and-dry
procedure three times, the ABM paint at an EVR
value of 4.6 was applied using the spray method. Following the directions in ASTM D 3359, a lattice pattern with six cuts in each direction was made in the
coated layer to the substrate. The 20-mm long cuts
were spaced 2 mm apart in each direction. A 75-mm
long piece of the tester tape was placed over the lattice
and rubbed firmly with an eraser on the end of a
pencil. The tape was then removed by seizing the free
end and pulling it off rapidly back upon itself at an
angle as close to 180 as possible. The adhesion was
evaluated by comparison
with description and illustration in the ASTM D3359 manual. An evaluation
scale (5B to OB) is provided, where 5B is the best and
OB is the poorest.
Three persons were selected arbitrarily as operators
and three consecutive tests were performed by each of
them independently
at three different locations. The
test results of each operator are as follows : (operator
1) 3B, 3B and 3B ; (operator 2) 4B, 3B and 3B ; (operator 3) 3B, 3B and 4B. From the test results, the
present ABM coating (EVR = 4.6) can be rated as
3B, which is determined by averaging the results of
each persons average result. From ASTM D33.59
manual, the 3B grade is described as follows : Small
flakes of the coating are detached along edges and at
intersections
of cuts, and the area affected is 5-15%

80

100

120

( hours )
surface

(EVR = 4.6)

of the lattice. The adhesion test confirmed that the

ABM coating has quite a strong adhesion strength to
the copper
substrate.
To increase
the adhesion
strength, more binder volume (lower EVR) can be
used. However, as seen in the previous tests, boiling
performance, excluding CHF, deteriorates as the EVR
value decreases.
2.6. Comparison with High-Flux surf&~
To compare the performance
of the current microporous surface with that of a commercial surface, the
well-known High-Flux brand commercial surface was
fabricated in the same method with the present heater
design. Top and side SEM images of the High-Flux
surface are illustrated in Fig. 12(a, b). The surface
contains cavities with larger nominal sizes (l&100
pm) than any of the surfaces used in the current study.
The surface, known to have a porosity between 40
and 50%, appears to have an extended boiling surface
area due to its large pores within the structure. The
side view indicates a thickness of ~400 pm and a
structure
containing
large interconnected
internal
cavities.
Figure 13 illustrates the test data with the HighFlux surface. Three runs were made with one HighFlux heater and the experimental results were repeatable. The pool boiling curve of the spray-coated ABM
surface (EVR = 4.6) is also plotted for comparison.
Incipient superheat
of the High-Flux
surface was
observed to be x 5 K which is comparable with those
of the current micro-porous
surfaces. In the low heatflux portion ( < 10 W cm-*), the High-Flux surface
shows higher heat-transfer
coefficients than the ABM

Enhanced boiling heat transfer from micro-porous surfaces

L 1OOpm ,

(4

W
Fig. 12. SEM images of High-Flux surface : (a) top view :
(b) side view.

4459

micro-porous
and the porous showed quite different
trends in incipient superheat,
nucleate boiling and
CHF. They also name their porous surface as a
porous nonconducting
surface by considering
the
difference from the highly conductive coatings (e.g.
High-Flux surface) which was named as a porous
conducting
surface. The term porous conducting
surface was based upon the nucleate boiling model
of ONeill et ul. [ 151 which was proposed for the HighFlux surface. ONeill et al. assumed that a thin liquid
film exists on the surface of each particle stacked
within the porous layer, and, hence, heat is transferred
by conduction
through the particle matrix and then
by conduction across the thin liquid film where evaporation occurs. Their model was based upon the high
thermal conducting characteristics
of the High-Flux
surface.
Based upon the observations in Figs. 12 and 13, the
High-Flux surface (porous conducting surface) possesses geometry characteristics
that are very beneficial
to the enhancement
of boiling performances
at low
heat fluxes and at CHF. In addition to the extended
effective boiling surface area within the highly conductive layer, the large size pores provide more
efficient liquid/vapor
exchange channels which produce increased convection heat transfer. As heat-flux
was increased, the benefit of the large size structure
was tapered off, due to increased vapor content within
the porous structure, which produced
comparable
nucleate-boiling
performance
with the ABM surface
(micro-porous
surface). Although the porous conducting surface showed higher boiling performance,
the micro-porous
coating has shown the possibility of
broad application based upon its simple application
process.

3. CONCLUSIONS
surface, by up to 2.6 times. At heat-fluxes above 10 W
cm-, the current ABM surface shows comparable
performance
with the High-Flux surface. Also, the
ABM coated surfaces nucleate boiling curve maintained a steeper slope up to near CHF. The HighFlux surface produced a higher CHF than the ABM
surface : 33.5 vs 27.0 W cme2.
For the coatings used in the current studies, Chang
and You [7] proposed that a superheated layer (-6,,)
develops from the heater base surface through the
coating layer and, hence, only the lower portion of
the coating layer is activated if the coating layer thickness is greater than the superheated layer. Their proposal were based upon the low thermal conducting
characteristics
of the current coatings due to the epoxy
component mixed within. They suggested two groups
of micro-porous and porous coatings by comparing
the coating thickness with the superheated liquid layer
thickness, 6,, which was estimated by the method of
Hue [ 141. The micro-porous
coating thicknesses are
less than &,,, and the porous coating thicknesses are
greater than 6,,. From their experimental studies, the

Micro-scale
enhancement
techniques
with five
different surfaces (ABM, CBM, DBM, DOA and
SOA) are used in this investigation. The micro-porous
coatings are applied to flush-mounted,
square heaters
and tested in a pool of saturated FC-72 at atmospheric
pressure.
(I) Coating component
variations
were studied
with different compositions
listed in Table 1 (ABM,
CBM, DBM, DOA and SOA). The micro-porousenhanced surfaces showed about SO-90% reduction
of incipience superheat, about 30% enhancement
of
the nucleate
boiling heat-transfer
coefficient
and
about 100% enhancement
in CHF over an unenhanced surface. These performance
enhancements
were due to the creation of micro-porous
structures
on the heater surface which significantly increased the
number of active nucleation sites. The coatings also
showed repeatable enhancement
independent
of the
binder characteristics
used in this study.
(2) Component mixing-ratio variations were studied
with the ABM and the CBM coatings. At EVR conditions greater than 1.1, the micro-porous
coatings

4460

J. Y. CHANG

-0
-

O0

and S. M. YOU

High-Flux surface (CHF = 33.5)

ABM-coated surface (EVR = 4.6, CHF = 27.0)

56

IO

Surface superheat
Fig. 13. Boiling from High-Flux

showed consistently enhanced boiling performances.

The incipient superheats were lower than z 10 K and
the heat-transfer coefficients were 34.5 times higher
than the uncoated reference surface at the fullydeveloped nucleation region. CHF was enhanced by
1.7-2 times over the EVR values used in the current
study.
(3) A spraying method was developed with ABM
coating to easily produce a micro-porous coating layer
over various heater geometries. The durability test
and the adhesion test with ABM coating lent evidence
to support that the current micro-porous coating has
a strong bonding strength.
(4) The commercial High-Flux surface (porous conducting surface) showed better performance than the
current ABM-coated surface (micro-porous surface)
at lower heat fluxes and at CHF.

4.
5.

6.
7.

8.

9.

11.

12.

13.

REFERENCES
Corty, C. and Foust, A. S., Surface variables in nucleate
boiling.
Chemical Engineering Progress Symposium
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Berensen, P. J., Experiments on pool boiling heat transfer. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer,
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Webb, R. L., The evolution of enhanced surface geo-

14.

15.

56

IO2

( K)

surface.

metries for nucleate

1981,2(34),
4669.

10.
Acknowledgements-This
study was supported by the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating
Board, Advanced Research/
Technology
Program
grant
number
003656-014.
The
authors extend their thanks to the 3M Industrial Chemical
Products Division for the donation of FC-72 test liquid and
to UOP Process Equipment for providing the High-Flux test
surface.

boiling.

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