Experiment no.

1
THERMAL RADIATION

Objectives

The main objectives of this experiment are to evaluate and compare the emissivity of three plates mainly matt

black, silver-anodized and polished plate and to be able to back up with the chemical engineering principles. The

determination and comparison of the effect of varying heat source temperature on the emissivity of the plates.

Summary of Results

The following data are gathered from the results of experiment and computations that are available in the manual

Table 1.1. Experimental data

Plate Emissivity Ts (°C) Tp (°C) R (W/m2) Intensity

(True Value)
Matt Black
1 30.40 52.00 24.00 2
1 30.90 98.00 100.00 3
Silver Anodized
0.87 30.60 57.00 19.00 2
0.87 31.10 83.00 100.00 3

Polished 0.32 30.80 37.00 2.00 2

0.32 31.10 38.00 10.00 3

Results and Discussion

Thermal radiation can be applied in many systems and equipment such as colors of clothes, radiators in

cars, electric heaters and common cooking utensils, in which the object’s color and surface properties can

determine if it perfectly absorbs or a good reflector of heat. In this experiment, three types of plate were analyzed

mainly Matt black, Silver Anodized and Polished plate. The emissivity of these three plates were calculated in

order to determine which material would be able to absorb more heat at a given surrounding temperature.[8]

In this table it is shown the calculated values of emissivity of the three plates using the raw data gather

from the experiment which can bee found at Table 1.1

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Table 1.2. Emissivity of Plates

Plate Emissivity Emissivity Intensity

(True Value) (calculated)
Matt Black
1 0.5538 2
1 0.5945 3
Silver Anodized
0.87 0.3497 2
0.87 0.8244 3

Polished 0.32 0.1727 2

0.32 0.7710 3

Emissivity are dependent on the temperature, angle, and the wavelength coming from the radiation. The

calculation of the emissivity was solved through the function of the thermal heat energy (q) emitted, distance

from the sensor to the heated plate, and the temperature of the surroundings and its plate[1]

Based on the calculated emissivity shown in the table above, no plausible trend can be deduced since the

values calculated are far from the true values that can be found in the literature. In the Matt black plate, the

emissivity calculated ranges at around 0.55-0.59. Since at two different intensity, the values fall at a close range.

It can be inferred that the source of error is coming from the plate. Wherein the plate could either be damage or

had faded its matt black color since the material wasn’t able to absorb heat to provide an emissivity close to the

value 1.00. According to the principle, a perfect black body absorbs all the electromagnetic radiation incident on

it regardless of frequency or angle of radiation. In reality it is hard to achieve so it can be approximated that the

resulting value would be at least closer to 1.00. [8]

In the Silver anodized plate, the true value of emissivity is estimated at a value of 0.87 this is due to the

fact that emissivity is a dependent on the type of material, surface properties and temperature of the object. Since

emissivity is related to absorption and reflection. Thus, it can be deduced that all falling light into the black body

are not reflected. Since a silver anodized plate, is not a black body and reflects light. Therefore, it does not emit

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the full spectrum of infrared radiant energy giving it an emissivity value of less than one. In addition, considering

the physical characteristics of the plate material, it is seen that the silver plate possessed a semi-reflective surface.

In the experiment, the two emissivity values calculated for two different intensity varies at a large value. For

intensity 2, 0.3297 is far from the true value of 0.87 listed in the literature. For intensity 3, the value of emissivity

calculated is 0.8244 which can be estimated to be near the true value. Possible source of errors arises from the

equipment used in the experiment and the sensors used. In reality, matt black plate would have an emissivity

greater than the silver anodized since its surface properties are rough and has a reflective surface.

In the polished plate, it is considered to be the plate to have an emissivity value of less than the first two

plate since its surface is well polished making it a perfect reflector if light does absorbing less energy compared

with the first two plates used. The true value expected for polished plate is at 0.32 but the values deviated at a

large amount. It is possible that the equipment used is not working properly since at three different plate only one

value is considered to be plausible.

Table 1.3. Error

Plate Emissivity Emissivity Percentage Error

(True Value) (calculated)
Matt Black
1 0.5538 44.62
1 0.5945 40.55
Silver Anodized
0.87 0.3497 59.80
0.87 0.8244 5.241

Polished 0.32 0.1727 46.03

0.32 0.7710 140.9

In this table it is shown that, most of the values calculated have a percentage error of large than 40 percent

and only one have a percentage error of less than 10 percent. Since this is not conducted in a controlled

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surrounding possible error would arise because some of the heat will not be transferred directly to the plate but

will be transferred in all directions.

Conclusion

After the experiment, the researchers were able to perform experiment in thermal radiation but wasn’t to

met the objectives since the values of emissivity calculated resulted in large deviations to the true value making

the data unreliable for comparison and evaluation. The comparison of the trend in varying intensity of the heat

source to emissivity wasn’t clearly establish because the resulting data does not show any trend. In addition, future

researchers are recommended to recalibrate the equipment first before conducting the experiment. The researchers

are also recommended to perform three trials per light intensity to be to confirm the validity of results in each

result.

References

[1] C. J. Geankoplis, Transport Processes and Unit Operations, Third Edition, Singapore: Prentice Hall, 1995.

[2] R. S. Brodkey and H. C. Hershey, Transport Phenomena, A Unified Approach, Singapore: McGraw-Hill Book Co,
1988.

[3] G. Elert, "Radiation-The Physics Hypertextbook," The Physics Hypertextbook, [Online]. Available:
https://physics.info/radiation/. [Accessed 29 April 2018].

[4] The Editors of Encylopaedia Britannica, "Encyclopædia Britannica," Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 26 October
2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.britannica.com/science/blackbody. [Accessed 29 April 2018].

[5] Y. A. Cengel, Intorduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,,
2008.

[6] J. P. Holman, Heat Transfer, Seventh Edition, Singapore: McGraw-Hill Book Co-Singapore, 1990.

[7] E. W. Weisstein, "Stefan-Boltzmann Law," Wolfram Research, [Online]. Available:

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Stefan-BoltzmannLaw.html. [Accessed 30 April 2018].

[8] Thermal Radiation. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-

and-pharmaceutical-science/thermal-radiation

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APPENDIX
L (Distance of heat sensor from the plate (mm) = 100mm
Sample Computation:

Plate 2: Silver Plate at setting 3

L=100 mm

Emissivity
𝑅(0.0632 + 𝐿2 )
𝜀=
0.0632 η2 𝜎(𝑇𝑝4 − 𝑇𝑠 4 )

𝑊 2 2
(100
2 )(0.063 + (0.1𝑚) )
𝜀= 𝑚
𝑊
(1)(0.0632 )(5.676𝑥10−8 2 )(356.15)4 − (304.25)4
𝑚 − 𝐾4

𝜀 = 0.8244

Percent Error
|𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒|
% Percentage error= 𝑥 100%
𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

0.87 − 0.8244
% Percentage error = 𝑥100%
0.87

Percent Error = 5.241%

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