Pool Boiling in Saturated and Subcooled FC-72 Dielectric Fluid From a Porous Graphite Surface

Experiments are conducted that investigated pool boiling of FC-72 liquid at saturation and 10, 20, and 30 K subcooling on porous graphite and smooth copper surfaces measuring 10 × 10 mm. The nucleate boiling heat flux, Critical Heat Flux (CHF), and surface superheats at boiling incipience are compared. Theses heat fluxes are also compared with those of other investigators for smooth copper and silicon, etched SiO₂, surfaces and micro-porous coating. No temperature excursion at boiling incipience on the porous graphite that occurred at a surface superheats of < 1.0 K. Conversely, the temperature excursions of 24.0 K and 12.4–17.8 K are measured at incipient boiling in saturation and subcooled boiling on copper. Nucleate boiling heat fluxes on porous graphite are significantly higher and corresponding surface superheats are much smaller than on copper. CHF on porous graphite (27.3, 39.6, 49.0, and 57.1 W/cm² in saturation and 10 K, 20 K, and 30 K subcooled boiling, respectively) are 61.5%–207% higher than those on copper (16.9, 19.5, 23.6, and 28.0 W/cm², respectively). The surface superheats at CHF on the porous graphite of 11.5 K in saturation and 17–20 K in subcooled boiling are significantly lower that those on copper (25 K and 26–28 K, respectively). In addition, the rate of increase of CHF on porous graphite with increased subcooling is ~ 125% higher than that on copper.