Heat transfer characteristics of aluminum sputtered fabrics

Al was sputtered onto four substrates: nylon, polyester, cotton/polyester, and shape memory polyurethane nanoweb, and the heat-transfer characteristics of the resultant materials were investigated by surface temperature measurements. The thickness of the Al layer increased linearly with sputtering time. The heat-transfer mechanisms of the multilayer systems in terms of conduction, convection, and radiation were investigated under steady-state conditions using a hot plate as a heat source in contact with Al-sputtered fabrics. The Al-sputtered fabric was placed on the hot plate, which was maintained at 35°C, and exposed to open air, which was maintained at 15°C. The temperatures of the air-facing surfaces of hot plate-Al-fabric-air (i.e., Al-phase-down) and hot plate-fabric-Al-air (i.e., Al-phase-up) systems were used to investigate the heat-transfer mechanism. It was found that heat dissipation to ambient air was much higher for the Al-phase-up system than for the Al-phase-down system. Heat-transfer coefficients of the Al surfaces were calculated and found to increase with the thickness of the Al layer. Furthermore, different conductive thermal resistances were observed for different fabrics prepared with the same Al-sputtering time. Consequently, differences in their thicknesses pore sizes, and thermal conductivities were suggested to have significant effects on their heat-transfer properties.