THERMAL PROPERTIES

ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
• How does a material respond to heat?
• How do we define and measure...
--heat capacity
--coefficient of thermal expansion
--thermal conductivity
--thermal shock resistance

• How do ceramics, metals, and polymers rank?

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 HEAT CAPACITY
• General: The ability of a material to absorb heat.
• Quantitative: The energy required to increase the
temperature of the material.
energy input (J/mol)
heat capacity dQ
(J/mol-K) C
dT temperature change (K)

• Two ways to measure heat capacity:

-- Cp : Heat capacity at constant pressure.
-- Cv : Heat capacity at constant volume.

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 HEAT CAPACITY VS T
• Heat capacity...
--increases with temperature
--reaches a limiting value of 3R

Heat capacity, C v
3R C v = constant

gas constant
= 8.31 J/mol-K
Adapted from Fig. 19.2,
Callister 6e.

D T (K)
Debye temperature
(usually less than T room )
• Atomic view:
--Energy is stored as atomic vibrations.
--As T goes up, so does the avg. energy of atomic vibr.
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HEAT CAPACITY: COMPARISON
material c p (J/kg-K)
• Polymers at room T
Polypropylene 1925 c p : (J/kg-K)
Polyethylene 1850 C p : (J/mol-K)
Polystyrene 1170
Teflon 1050
• Ceramics • Why is cp significantly
Magnesia (MgO) 940 larger for polymers?
p

Alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) 775

increasing c

Glass 840
• Metals
Aluminum 900
Steel 486
Tungsten 128 Selected values from Table 19.1, Callister 6e.
Gold 138

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 THERMAL EXPANSION
• Materials change size when heating.
L final  Linitial Tinit
 (Tfinal  Tinitial ) Linit
Linitial
Tfinal
coefficient of Lfinal
thermal expansion (1/K)

• Atomic view: Mean bond length increases with T.

Bond energy
Adapted from Fig. 19.3(a), Callister 6e.
r(T 1 )
r(T 5 )

(Fig. 19.3(a) adapted from R.M. Rose, L.A.

Shepard, and J. Wulff, The Structure and
Bond length (r) Properties of Materials, Vol. 4, Electronic
Properties, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
increasing T

1966.)
T5
bond energy vs bond length
curve is “asymmetric”
T1
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THERMAL EXPANSION: COMPARISON
Material  (10 -6 /K)
• Polymers at room T
Polypropylene 145-180
Polyethylene 106-198
Polystyrene 90-150
Teflon 126-216
• Metals
• Q: Why does 


Aluminum 23.6
Steel 12 generally decrease
increasing

Tungsten 4.5 with increasing

Gold 14.2 bond energy?
• Ceramics
Magnesia (MgO) 13.5
Alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) 7.6
Soda-lime glass 9 Selected values from Table 19.1, Callister 6e.
Silica (cryst. SiO 2 ) 0.4

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 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

• General: The ability of a material to transfer heat.

• Quantitative: temperature
dT
q  k gradient
heat flux dx
(J/m2-s) thermal conductivity (J/m-K-s)

T1 T2 > T 1
x1 heat flux x2

• Atomic view: Atomic vibrations in hotter region carry

energy (vibrations) to cooler regions.

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THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY: COMPARISON
Material k (W/m-K) Energy Transfer
• Metals
Aluminum 247 By vibration of
Steel 52 atoms and
Tungsten 178 motion of
Gold 315 electrons
• Ceramics
Magnesia (MgO) 38
increasing k

Alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) 39 By vibration of

Soda-lime glass 1.7 atoms
Silica (cryst. SiO 2 ) 1.4
• Polymers
Polypropylene 0.12 By vibration/
Polyethylene 0.46-0.50 rotation of chain
Polystyrene 0.13 molecules
Teflon 0.25
Selected values from Table 19.1, Callister 6e.
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 EX: THERMAL STRESS
• Occurs due to:
--uneven heating/cooling
--mismatch in thermal expansion.
• Example Problem 17.1, p. 724, Callister 2e.
--A brass rod is stress-free at room temperature (20C).
--It is heated up, but prevented from lengthening.
--At what T does the stress reach -172MPa?
T room
Lroom L L
T   thermal  (T  Troom )
Lroom
100GPa 20 x 10-6 /C
  E( thermal )  E(T  Troom )
compressive  keeps L = 0
-172MPa 20C
Answer: 106C
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 THERMAL SHOCK RESISTANCE
• Occurs due to: uneven heating/cooling.
• Ex: Assume top thin layer is rapidly cooled from T1 to T2:
rapid quench

tries to contract during cooling T2 Tension develops at surface
doesn’t want to contract T1   E(T1  T2 )
Temperature difference that Critical temperature difference
can be produced by cooling: for fracture (set  = f)
quench rate f
(T1  T2 )  (T1  T2 ) fracture 
k E
set equal
fk
• Result: (quench rate ) for fracture 
E
fk
• Large thermal shock resistance when is large.
E 10
 THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEM
Re-entry T
• Application: Distribution
Space Shuttle Orbiter

reinf C-C silica tiles nylon felt, silicon rubber

(1650°C) (400-1260°C) coating (400°C)
Fig. 23.0, Callister 5e. (Fig. 23.0 courtesy the National Fig. 19.2W, Callister 6e. (Fig. 19.2W adapted from L.J. Korb,
Aeronautics and Space Administration. C.A. Morant, R.M. Calland, and C.S. Thatcher, "The Shuttle
Orbiter Thermal Protection System", Ceramic Bulletin, No. 11,
• Silica tiles (400-1260C): Nov. 1981, p. 1189.)
--large scale application --microstructure:
~90% porosity!
Si fibers
bonded to one
another during
heat treatment.
100 m
Fig. 19.3W, Callister 5e. (Fig. 19.3W courtesy the Fig. 19.4W, Callister 5e. (Fig. 219.4W courtesy
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lockheed Aerospace Ceramics
Systems, Sunnyvale, CA.) 11
 SUMMARY
• A material responds to heat by:
--increased vibrational energy
--redistribution of this energy to achieve thermal equil.
• Heat capacity:
--energy required to increase a unit mass by a unit T.
--polymers have the largest values.
• Coefficient of thermal expansion:
--the stress-free strain induced by heating by a unit T.
--polymers have the largest values.
• Thermal conductivity:
--the ability of a material to transfer heat.
--metals have the largest values.
• Thermal shock resistance:
--the ability of a material to be rapidly cooled and not
crack. Maximize fk/E.
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