Liquid phase enhanced sintering of porous aluminum for cylindrical Al-acetone heat pipe

• Published in: International journal of heat and mass transfer 2020-05, Vol.152, p.119512, Article 119512
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jing, Lian, Li-xian, Liu, Ying
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetone; Aluminum; Argon; Copper; Degassing; Heat pipe; Heat pipes; Horizontal orientation; Liquid phase sintering; Liquid phases; Nonuniformity; Performance tests; Pore size; Porosity; Porous aluminum; Sintering; Sintering (powder metallurgy); Thermal performance; Thermal resistance; Working fluids
• ISSN: 0017-9310; 1879-2189
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2020.119512

•Al powders are sintered poorly and Cu particles eliminate the hindrance of Al2O3.•Excessive Cu causes agglomeration of Al powders and increase of pore size.•Segregation phases and precipitates of CuAl2 emerge inside Al powders.•Al-acetone heat pipe is fabricated and its thermal performance is characterized. In this study, porous aluminum is successfully sintered on the inner surface of a slim aluminum pipe utilizing liquid phase enhanced sintering method, and cylindrical heat pipe is successfully fabricated using acetone as the working fluid. The process mainly includes sintering, acetone filling, vacuuming, secondary degassing and argon welding. The sintering experiments indicate that pure aluminum powders are poorly sintered; however apparent sintering necks between aluminum powders are formed with copper particles added. Moreover, aluminum powders agglomerate and average pore size increases obviously when copper mass fraction reaches 4.5 wt%. Thermal performance test results of Al-acetone heat pipe demonstrate that the temperature nonuniformity is small and the maximum heat transfer capability is 7 W in horizontal orientation. The total thermal resistance of the heat pipe is 0.6 °C/W within the heat load range of 3–7 W.