Effective Thermal Conductivity and Permeability of Aluminum Foam Materials1

An experimental measurement program was performed to determine thermo- physical properties of aluminum-based foam metals. The effective thermal con- ductivity ke and permeability K were investigated in detail. Experimental facilities were fabricated, and the measurement procedures and methodologies were evaluated. One-dimensional heat conduction was considered to determine ke . The results indicate that ke increases as the porosity = decreases. However, no noticeable changes in ke were detected from variations of the cell size of the foam metal at a fixed porosity =. The permeability K is substantially affected by both = and the cell size. An empirical correlation for the friction factor f is proposed based on the concepts of K and inertial effect.