Effective factors on thermal conductivity of stochastic structures open cell metal foams

Effective thermal conductivity (ETC) is a considerable thermo-physical property in design, manufacturing, and usage of multifunctional equipment that benefit cellular structures such as open-cell metal foams. An accurate understanding of key parameters effecting on ETC is classified by: Analytical, Numerical and Experimental approaches. In this study, a comprehensive investigation based on mentioned approaches is presented and a comparison between various factors affecting ETC including porosity, pore size, temperature, pressure and shape factor is made. Porosity and pore size, as main morphological features of open-cell metal foams, indicate structural characterization of them. Increase of porosity and pore size resulted decrease of ETC. The temperature effects on ETC in case of temperatures lower than 250 °C is ignorable although for temperature higher than 500 °C with change of heat transfer mechanism temperature plays a primary role in determining ETC. Few studies have been made on pressure parameter that illustrated its effect on ETC is insignificant. Multiple manufacturing methods produce different topological structures so; the influence of shape factor on ETC requires more efforts to reach a better understanding. Finally, applicable techniques for measuring ETC are briefly discussed.