Theory

1. Thermal Contact Resistance

“The thermal resistance of a material is the inverse of the thermal conductivity. i.e., thermal
conductivity has units of W m-1 K-1, and thermal resistivity has units of K m W -1. So as was said
above, thermal conductivity is the ability of a material to conduct heat, so thermal resistance is
how much a material resists heat flow.”

Thermal contact resistance is always present in the interface between two solid surfaces. In
this example, we look at contact resistance between layers in a stack of copper sheets and
its impact on the apparent thermal conductivity across the layers. Interfaces slow the
propagation of heat in a structure. This can be illustrated as a temperature drop across the
boundary region, as depicted in the image to the right. As a result, powders have a low
apparent thermal conductivity, even if the intrinsic conductivity of the material is high.
Contact resistance is important in any structures with a large number of interfaces, e.g.
Laminates, powders, composites etc. [1]

Figure 01 (Thermal Contact Resistance) [1]

Although most surfaces seem flat in reality, on a microscopic level all of them are found to
possess micro asperities. This effectively reduces the contact area when two surfaces are in
contact with each other. The real contact area is found to be a small portion of the apparent
contact area. The real contact area is dependent on many physical factors of the surface. The
different factors effecting the contact area between the two surfaces are discussed in figure
02.

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 Figure 02(Magnified view of Two Materials in Contact) [2]

When a junction is formed by pressing two similar or dissimilar metallic materials together,
only a small fraction of the nominal surface area is actually in contact because of the no
flatness and roughness of the contacting surfaces. If a heat flux is imposed across the
junction, the uniform flow of heat is generally restricted to conduction through the contact
spots, as shown in Figure 02. The limited number and size of the contact spots results in an
actual contact area which is significantly smaller than the apparent contact area. This limited
contact area causes a thermal resistance, the contact resistance or thermal contact resistance.
The presence of a fluid or solid interstitial medium between the contacting surfaces may
contribute to or restrict the heat transfer at the junction, depending upon the thermal
conductivity, thickness, and hardness (in the case of a solid) of the interstitial medium. If
there is a significant temperature difference between the surfaces composing the junction,
heat exchange by radiation also may occur across the gaps between the contacting surfaces.
[2]

1.1 Factors affecting Thermal Contact Resistance

Thermal contact resistance is affected by numerous physical factors depending on the two
materials in contact.

Figure 03 (Visualization of the effects of hardness and contact pressure at an interface) [3]

Figure 03 shows the effect of hardness and contact pressure at the interface, on the value of
thermal contact resistance.

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1.1.1 Micro Hardness of the Material

Micro hardness of the material plays an important role in determining the value of the contact
resistance at the interface. Figure 2.4 shows two materials, with different values off micro-
hardness. The material on the top is harder than the material at the bottom. The deformation
of the asperities of a harder material will be smaller, which reduces the contact area and
increases the thermal contact resistance.

1.1.2 Contact Pressure

The contact area at the interface is proportional to the pressure acting on the surfaces. Figure
2.4 shows two different values of contact pressures acting on an interface. The contact
pressure on the interface at the top is lower, than the contact pressure at the bottom interface.
As the pressure increases the value of Rc decreases due to increase in the contact area for
conduction.

1.1.3 Surface Roughness

An ideal smooth surface has 100% contact at the interface. But in reality even for highly
polished surfaces it is very unlikely to obtain this condition. As the surface roughness
increases the contact area reduces and consequently the value of Rc increases.

1.1.4 Thermal Conductivity of the Material

A material with a higher value of conductivity will conduct more heat. As the value of
thermal conductivity of the two materials at the interface increases the value of Rc decreases.

1.1.5 Asperity Slope

If the surface contains asperities with high slope values, the contact area is reduced and
correspondingly the value of Rc increases. By varying these parameters the thermal contact
resistance can be modified at the interface.

1.2 Theories to predict Thermal Contact Resistance

Extensive studies have been carried out to quantify the numerical value of Rc. Over the years
various models have been developed based on different input parameters. The different
models are classified based on, if the deformation of the micro contacts are considered to be
plastic or elastic in nature. The real contact area is proportional to the applied load, which

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implies that the deformation is plastic in nature. All earlier theories were hence formulated
based on the assumption that the deformations were plastic in nature and they did not account
for the elastic deformations beneath the surface. This approximation is accurate if the elastic
moduli of the contacting bodies were infinity or if the distances between the micro contacts
were small such that the elastic deformation on both the micro contacts were the same. But,
these assumptions are not true for most practical cases. [3]

1.3 Engineering Application of Thermal Contact Resistance

There are following applications of thermal contact resistance like as use in industry,
electronics, flight.

1.3.1 Application in Industry

o Nuclear Reactor Cooling
o Gas Turbine Cooling
o Internal Combustion Engines
o Heat Exchangers
o Thermal Insulators
1.3.2 Application in Electronic
o Electronic Packaging
o Heat Sinks
o Brackets

1.3.3 Application in Flight

o Hypersonic Flight Vehicles
o Thermal Supervision for Space Vehicles
o Residential or Building Science
o Performance of Building Envelops [4]
1.4Thermal Contact Resistance of different Material

Different material show different thermal contact resistance which is clear from the table.

Table 01 (Thermal Contact Resistance of different Material) [5]

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References

[ H. Disk, "Thermal Contact Resistance," [Online]. Available:

1 https://www.hotdiskinstruments.com/applications/thermal-contact-resistance/. [Accessed Friday
] 11 2019].

[ Thermopedia. [Online]. Available: http://www.thermopedia.com/content/1188/. [Accessed Friday

2 11 2019].
]

[ K. N. Babu. [Online]. Available:

3 http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/223157/223157.pdf. [Accessed Friday 11
] 2019].

[ wikipedia. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_contact_conductance.

4 [Accessed Friday 11 2019].
]

[ Google. [Online]. Available: https://www.google.com/search?

5 biw=1366&bih=608&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNRheVvjWOx8QFPknuS_mrfiwAddvA
] %3A1572628357404&sa=1&ei=hWe8XZGiGJHixgPtuZT4Bg&. [Accessed Friday 11 2019].

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