Thermal Conduction - Overview

Overview

On a microscopic scale, conduction occurs within a body considered as being stationary; this means that the kinetic and potential energies of the bulk motion of the body are separately accounted for. Internal energy diffuses as rapidly moving or vibrating atoms and molecules interact with neighboring particles, transferring some of their microscopic kinetic and potential energies, these quantities being defined relative to the bulk of the body considered as being stationary. Heat is transferred by conduction when adjacent atoms or molecules collide, or as several electrons move backwards and forwards from atom to atom in a disorganized way so as not to form a macroscopic electric current, or as phonons collide and scatter. Conduction is the most significant means of heat transfer within a solid or between solid objects in thermal contact. Conduction is greater in solids because the network of relatively close fixed spatial relationships between atoms helps to transfer energy between them by vibration.

Fluids (and especially gases) are less conductive. This is due to the large distance between atoms in a gas: fewer collisions between atoms means less conduction. Conductivity of gases increases with temperature. Conductivity increases with increasing pressure from vacuum up to a critical point that the density of the gas is such that molecules of the gas may be expected to collide with each other before they transfer heat from one surface to another. After this point conductivity increases only slightly with increasing pressure and density.

Thermal contact conductance is the study of heat conduction between solid bodies in contact. A temperature drop is often observed at the interface between the two surfaces in contact. This phenomenon is said to be a result of a thermal contact resistance existing between the contacting surfaces. Interfacial thermal resistance is a measure of an interface's resistance to thermal flow. This thermal resistance differs from contact resistance, as it exists even at atomically perfect interfaces. Understanding the thermal resistance at the interface between two materials is of primary significance in the study of its thermal properties. Interfaces often contribute significantly to the observed properties of the materials.

The inter-molecular transfer of energy could be primarily by elastic impact as in fluids or by free electron diffusion as in metals or phonon vibration as in insulators. In insulators the heat flux is carried almost entirely by phonon vibrations.

Metals (e.g. copper, platinum, gold,etc.) are usually good conductors of thermal energy. This is due to the way that metals are chemically bonded: metallic bonds (as opposed to covalent or ionic bonds) have free-moving electrons which are able to transfer thermal energy rapidly through the metal. The "electron fluid" of a conductive metallic solid conducts most of the heat flux through the solid. Phonon flux is still present, but carries less of the energy. Electrons also conduct electric current through conductive solids, and the thermal and electrical conductivities of most metals have about the same ratio. A good electrical conductor, such as copper, also conducts heat well. Thermoelectricity is caused by the interaction of heat flux and electrical current. Heat conduction within a solid is directly analogous to diffusion of particles within a fluid, in the situation where there are no fluid currents.

To quantify the ease with which a particular medium conducts, engineers employ the thermal conductivity, also known as the conductivity constant or conduction coefficient, k. In thermal conductivity k is defined as "the quantity of heat, Q, transmitted in time (t) through a thickness (L), in a direction normal to a surface of area (A), due to a temperature difference (ΔT) ." Thermal conductivity is a material property that is primarily dependent on the medium's phase, temperature, density, and molecular bonding. Thermal effusivity is a quantity derived from conductivity which is a measure of its ability to exchange thermal energy with its surroundings.