Local thermal conductivity of polycrystalline AlN ceramics measured by scanning thermal microscopy and complementary scanning electron microscopy techniques

The local thermal conductivity of polycrystalline aluminum nitride （A1N） ceramics is measured and imaged by using a scanning thermal microscope （SThM） and complementary scanning electron microscope （SEM） based techniques at room temperature. The quantitative thermal conductivity for the A1N sample is gained by using a SThM with a spatial resolution of sub-micrometer scale through using the 3w method. A thermal conductivity of 308 W/m-K within grains corresponding to that of high-purity single crystal A1N is obtained. The slight differences in thermal conduction between the adjacent grains are found to result from crystallographic misorientations, as demonstrated in the electron backscattered diffraction. A much lower thermal conductivity at the grain boundary is due to impurities and defects enriched in these sites, as indicated by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.

A Comprehensive Review for Micro/Nanoscale Thermal Mapping Technology Based on Scanning Thermal Microscopy

Thermal characterization becomes challenging as the material size is reduced to micro/nanoscales.Based on scanning probe microscopy(SPM),scanning thermal microscopy(STh M)is able to collect thermophysical characteristics of the microscopic domain with high spatial resolution.Starting from its development history,this review introduces the operation mechanism of the instrument in detail,including working principles,thermal probes,quantitative study,and applications.As the core principle of STh M,the heat transfer mechanism section is discussed emphatically.Additionally,the emerging technologies based on the STh M platform are clearly reviewed and corresponding examples are presented in detail.Finally,the current challenges and future opportunities of STh M are discussed.

Significant enhancement in local thermal conductivity of erythritol at interface with nanoparticles due to their interaction

When nano-fillers are used to enhance the thermal conductivity of organic phase change materials(PCMs),the naturally formed interface is considered to hinder thermal transport of the composite PCMs.However,the effect of the interface on the thermal properties of surrounding PCM has not been fully studied.In this paper,three composite PCMs(Ery@SiC,Ery@SiO_(2) and Ery@Si_(3)N_(4))were prepared by melt-blending method.The local thermal conductivity and reduced Young’s modulus(E^(*))of the erythritol at the interface and far away from the interface in the composite PCMs were simultaneously measured by scanning thermal microscopy(SThM).The results revealed significant enhancement in local thermal conductivity of erythritol at the interface and its obvious positive correlation with E^(*).For different composite PCMs,molecular dynamics(MD)simulations suggested that the increase in intrinsic thermal conductivity and E^(*)of erythritol is attributed to the increase in interaction energy between erythritol and nanoparticles,as more erythritol phonon vibrations transform from localized mode to delocalized mode and erythritol has a higher density at the interface.These findings will provide new ideas for the design of PCM for energy storage.