Enhanced boiling of FC-72 on silicon chips with micro-pin-fins and submicron-scale roughness

Experiments were conducted to study the effects of micro-pin-fins and submicron-scale roughness on the boiling heat transfer from a silicon chip immersed in a pool of degassed and gas-dissolved FC-72. Square pin-fins with fin dimensions of 50X50X60 mum(3) (widthXthicknessXheight) and submicron-scale roughness (RMS roughness of 25 to 32 nm) were fabricated on the surface of square silicon chip (10X10X0.5mm(3)) by use of microelectronic fabrication techniques. Experiments were conducted at the liquid subcoolings of 0, 3, 25, and 45 K. Both the micro-pin-finned chip and the chip with submicron-scale roughness showed a considerable heat transfer enhancement as compared to a smooth chip in the nucleate boiling region. The chip with submicron-scale roughness showed a higher heat transfer performance than the micro-pin-finned chip in the low-heat-flux region. The micro-pin-finned chip showed a steep increase in the heat flux with increasing wall superheat. This chip showed a higher heat transfer performance than the chip with submicron-scale roughness in the high-heat-flux region. The micro-pinfinned chip with submicron-scale roughness on it showed the highest heat transfer performance in the high-heat-flux region. While the wall superheat at boiling incipience was strongly dependent on the dissolved gas content, it was little affected by the liquid subcooling.