THEORETICAL-EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF HEAT TRANSFER IN NANOCOMPOSITES VIA INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS AND INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY

Theoretical and experimental methodologies for the identification of spatially variable thermophysical properties are illustrated by using samples of nanocomposites of alumina oxide nanoparticles dispersed in a polymeric matrix. First the heterogeneous nanocomposite plate is thermally characterized by means of a fairly simple experimental setup which can be modeled by a one-dimensional heat conduction formulation with space variable properties. Temperature measurements are obtained via infrared thermography, the direct problem is handled by an error-controlled integral transform solution, and the inverse analysis is undertaken via Bayesian inference (MCMC method). Then, in order to illustrate a practical application of the methodologies here presented, we also show some results in which a small electrical resistance is attached to the plate, simulating an electronic device installed on the nanocomposite substrate, which in such situation works as a heat spreader modeled by a two-dimensional heat conduction formulation.