[en] Thermal conductivity κ of a single crystal triclinic 4-bromobenzophenone polymorph was measured along axis b from 4.5 to 303 K. The κ values versus temperature were represented as a sum of κ₁, which generally describes the thermal conductivity of ordered crystals, and κ_TA responsible for activation processes, which fits nicely experimental data from 120 up. DFT analysis led to the conclusion that the activation agent responsible for the high-temperature behavior is the molecular mode that involves C–Br oscillations. It is for the first time that the exponential thermal conduction was ascribed to a specific intramolecular excitation.

[en] Adding a small volume fraction of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to a liquid enhances the thermal conductivity significantly. Recent experimental findings report an anomalously wide range of enhancement values that continue to perplex the research community and remain unexplained. In this paper we present a theoretical model based on three-dimensional CNT chain formation (percolation) in the base liquid and the corresponding thermal resistance network. The model considers random CNT orientation and CNT-CNT interaction forming the percolating chain. Predictions are in good agreement with almost all available experimental data. Results show that the enhancement critically depends on the CNT geometry (length), volume fraction, thermal conductivity of the base liquid and the nanofluid (CNT-liquid suspension) preparation technique. Based on the physical mechanism of heat conduction in the nanofluid, we introduce a new dimensionless parameter that alone characterizes the nanofluid thermal conductivity with reasonable accuracy (∼ ± 5%)

[en] We present an analytical model capable of demonstrating the dependence of tortuosity of two-phase porous media upon two topological parameters: porosity and pore shape. Based on a generalized effective thermal conductivity model and a particular solution to the Laplace heat conduction equation for two-phase porous media having randomly distributed non-conducting circular pores, an analytical model of tortuosity is derived. For non-circular pores such as idealized polygonal pores, the circularity-based concept of pore shape factor is incorporated into the model, which is capable of analytically unifying existing models which are valid only for limited porosity ranges and circular pore shapes. (paper)

[en] A discovery of the unusual thermal properties of graphene stimulated experimental, theoretical and computational research directed at understanding phonon transport and thermal conduction in two-dimensional material systems. We provide a critical review of recent results in the graphene thermal field focusing on phonon dispersion, specific heat, thermal conductivity, and comparison of different models and computational approaches. The correlation between the phonon spectrum in graphene-based materials and the heat conduction properties is analyzed in details. The effects of the atomic plane rotations in bilayer graphene, isotope engineering, and relative contributions of different phonon dispersion branches are discussed. For readers’ convenience, the summaries of main experimental and theoretical results on thermal conductivity as well as phonon mode contributions to thermal transport are provided in the form of comprehensive annotated tables. (review)

[en] The anomalous thermal transport properties of nanotubes may lead to many important applications, but the mechanisms are still unclear. In this work, we present new governing equations for non-Fourier heat conduction in nanomaterials based on the concept of thermomass. The effective thermal conductivities of nanotubes are therefore predicted which agree very well with the available experimental data. Analysis suggests that the inertial effect of heat and the confined heat flux by nanostructured surfaces are two key mechanisms causing the anomalous temperature and size dependences of effective thermal conductivity of nanotubes.

[en] Recommender systems use the historical activities and personal profiles of users to uncover their preferences and recommend objects. Most of the previous methods are based on objects’ (and/or users’) similarity rather than on their difference. Such approaches are subject to a high risk of increasingly exposing users to a narrowing band of popular objects. As a result, a few objects may be recommended to an enormous number of users, resulting in the problem of recommendation congestion, which is to be avoided, especially when the recommended objects are limited resources. In order to quantitatively measure a recommendation algorithm's ability to avoid congestion, we proposed a new metric inspired by the Gini index, which is used to measure the inequality of the individual wealth distribution in an economy. Besides this, a new recommendation method called directed weighted conduction (DWC) was developed by considering the heat conduction process on a user–object bipartite network with different thermal conductivities. Experimental results obtained for three benchmark data sets showed that the DWC algorithm can effectively avoid system congestion, and greatly improve the novelty and diversity, while retaining relatively high accuracy, in comparison with the state-of-the-art methods. (paper)

[en] The spectral resolution of a MEMS-based IR microspectrometer critically depends on the thermal cross-talk between adjacent TE elements in the detector array. Thermal isolation between elements is realized by using bulk micromachining directly following CMOS processing. This paper reports on the characterization results of bridge-shaped TE detector elements that are cut out of a membrane. Elements with dimensions of 650 × 36 µm² are separated by 10 µm wide gaps in order to minimize the thermal cross-talk by heat conduction through the support structure. The static and dynamic aspects of thermal cross-talk have been evaluated with an emphasis on the effect of the thermal conductivity of air as a function of the package pressure

[en] This study presents a methodology to estimate the in-plane thermal conductivity of copper clad board used in electronic applications. Experiments are performed in vacuum environment and an inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) is solved employing artificial neural networks to estimate the in-plane thermal conductivity. A comparison of estimates of thermal conductivity as obtained by solving the inverse problem using back propagation artificial neural networks trained using two algorithms namely Levenberg-Marquardt and Scaled Conjugate Gradient are presented. (paper)

[en] Nanofluids are produced by dispersing nanoparticles in basefluid. Given its superior thermo-physical properties, nanofluids are gaining increasing attention and are showing promising potential in various applications. Numerous studies have been conducted in the past decade to experimentally and theoretically investigate thermal conductivity. The experimental finding is briefly summarized in this study; however, we do not intend to present a systematic summary of the available references from the literature. The primary objective of this study is to review and summarize the most debated mechanisms for heat conduction in nanofluids, such as the effects of a nanolayer, the Brownian motion of nanoparticles and aggregation, as well as induced convection. Finally, at a low concentration of nanoparticles, nanoconvection is the leading contributor to thermal conductivity enhancement, whereas at a higher concentration, the natural thermal transport along the backbone would aggregate, and the effects of the nanolayer would become significant and become ineligible.

[en] Minimizing thermal resistances across interfaces is critical for efficient thermal performance of conductively cooled superconducting magnet systems. Thermal conductance measurements have been made for a flexible thermal coupling, designed to accommodate magnet-to-cryocooler and cryocooler-to-shield relative motion, and an interface incorporating Multilam designed as a sliding thermal connector for cryocoolers. Temperature changes were measured across each interface as a function of heat input. Thermal conductances have been calculated for each interface, and the impact of each interface on conductively cooled magnet systems will be discussed