INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KANPUR

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

MSE 202: RATE PROCESSES: 2023-2024: SPRING SEMESTER

Assignment 3 Submission due: 18 th Feb 2024 (before 7:00

pm)
Total Marks: 40 (Marks for individual questions in parentheses)

1. A thermal window is constructed of two 5-mm thicknesses of window glass between

which is a 5-mm gap containing stagnant air. The inside room temperature is 25°C, the
outside temperature is -15°C, and the heat transfer coefficients on the inside and the
outside are, respectively, 10 W/m2∙K and 80 W/m2∙K.
(a) Calculate the heat flux through the window.
(b) Will the heat flux increase or decrease if the air gap is eliminated and a single plane of
thickness 10 mm is used? Show calculations to support your answer.
(c) What would the thickness of the air gap have to be to have a heat flux of 100 W/m2 ?
(4+4+2=10 marks)
2. A Pt wire of length 0.5 m and diameter 1 mm conducts a current of 10 A. The ambient
temperature is 20°C and the heat transfer coefficient at the surface of the wire is 20
W/m2∙K. The thermal conductivity of Pt is 47 W/m∙K and the specific resistivity is 10.6 μ
Ω∙cm. Calculate the following:
(a) The rate of heat generation in the wire
(b) The temperature of the surface of the wire
(c) The difference between the temperatures at the centreline and the surface of the wire
(d) The wire is coated with a 0.1 mm layer of plastic insulating material having a thermal
conductivity of 0.1 W/m∙K. Calculate the temperature at the inner and outer surface of
the insulation.
(e) If the maximum service temperature of the insulation is 150°C, what is the maximum
current that can be passed through the wire?
(2+2+2+3+3 = 12 marks)
3. After being annealed to 700°C, spherical steel balls of diameter 0.01 m are allowed to
cool slowly in still air at 50°C under conditions in which the heat transfer coefficient is 20
W/m2∙K. Calculate:
(a) The initial rate of cooling of the steel balls
(b) The temperature of the steel balls after 15 minutes
(c) The time required for the temperature of the balls to fall to 100°C
Use the following data for steel:
 k =45 W /m∙ K
C p=830 J /kg ∙ K
3
ρ=7700 kg/m
(3+3+2=8 marks)
4. The temperature of a semi-infinite slab of steel, which is at the uniform temperature of
25°C, is raised instantaneously to 50°C. Calculate the following:
(a) The distance beneath the surface of the slab at which the local temperature is 30°C
after 5 minutes.
(b) The heat flux to the slab at t = 5 minutes
(c) The thermal energy that has been transferred per unit area of the slab during the first 5
minutes.
Use data given in problem 3 for thermophysical properties of steel

(4+3+3=10 marks)