TiB2–SiC-based ceramics as alternative efficient micro heat exchangers

Abstract

Ceramics as functional materials durable at corrosive media or high temperatures are suitable candidates for manufacturing heat exchangers. In the present work, a series of numerical simulations was carried out to investigate the heat transfer in micro heat exchanger made by TiB2-SiC and TiB2-SiC doped with 2 wt% carbon fiber. Experimental thermal diffusivity data of materials were obtained by laser flash method and used for numerical simulations. This article demonstrates the feasibility of better heat transfer and performance for ceramic heat exchangers. Conduction heat transfer equation in solid walls of heat exchanger along with fluid flow governing equation was used for solid and fluid domains. The governing equations were discretized by the finite element method and solved by COMSOL Multiphysics software. The obtained results showed that the thermal conductivity of both TiB2-based composites are approximately the same and small amount of carbon fiber had no considerable effect on the thermal properties of the composites. For the ceramic heat exchanger, a higher heat transfer with 15.5% enhancement occurs using TiB2 composites compared to utilization of Al2O3.