THERMAL PROPERTIES

Material Science and Engineering

Chapter 19 - 1
 Heat Capacity
The ability of a material to absorb heat
• Quantitatively: The energy required to produce a unit rise in
temperature for one mole of a material.
energy input (J/mol)
heat capacity dQ
(J/mol-K) C=
dT temperature change (K)

• Two ways to measure heat capacity:

Cp : Heat capacity at constant pressure.
Cv : Heat capacity at constant volume.
Cp usually > Cv
J  Btu 
• Heat capacity has units of  
mol  K  lb − mol  F 
Chapter 19 - 2
 Atomic Vibrations
Atomic vibrations are in the form of lattice waves or phonons

Adapted from Fig. 19.1,

Callister & Rethwisch 8e.
Chapter 19 - 3
 Specific Heat: Comparison
Material cp (J/kg-K)
• Polymers at room T
Polypropylene 1925 cp (specific heat): (J/kg-K)
Polyethylene 1850 Cp (heat capacity): (J/mol-K)
Polystyrene 1170
Teflon 1050
• Why is cp significantly
increasing cp

• Ceramics larger for polymers?

Magnesia (MgO) 940
Alumina (Al2O3) 775
Glass 840
• Metals
Aluminum 900
Steel 486 Selected values from Table 19.1,
Tungsten 138 Callister & Rethwisch 8e.

Gold 128
Chapter 19 - 4
 EXAMPLE 1
• A 500 gram cube of gold is heated from
25 °C to 75 °C. How much energy was
required to heat the gold?

• At the same conditions, calculate the heat

energy required for polyethylene.

Chapter 19 - 5
 EXAMPLE 2
• The temperature of a sample of iron with a
mass of 10.0 g changed from 50.4°C to
25.0°C with the release of 47 calories of
heat. What is the specific heat of iron?

Chapter 19 - 6
 Thermal Expansion
Materials change size when temperature
is changed
Tinitial
 initial
Tfinal > Tinitial
Tfinal
 final

l −l
final initial
=  l (Tfinal −Tinitial )
l initial
linear coefficient of
thermal expansion (1/K or 1/ºC)

 Chapter 19 - 7
 Coefficient of Thermal Expansion:
Comparison
Material  (10-6/C)
at room T
• Polymers
Polypropylene 145-180 Polymers have larger
Polyethylene 106-198  values because of
Polystyrene 90-150 weak secondary bonds
Teflon 126-216
• Metals
increasing 

Aluminum 23.6
Steel 12
Tungsten 4.5
Gold 14.2
• Ceramics
Magnesia (MgO) 13.5 Selected values from Table 19.1,
Alumina (Al2O3) 7.6 Callister & Rethwisch 8e.

Soda-lime glass 9
Silica (cryst. SiO2) 0.4
Chapter 19 - 8
 EXAMPLE 3
Ex: A copper wire 15 m long is cooled from
40 to -9ºC. How much change in length will it
experience?
• Answer: For Cu  = 16.5 x 10−6 ( C)−1

 =    0 T = [
16 .5 x 10 −6 (1/ C)](15 m)[ 40 C − ( −9C)]

 = 0.012 m = 12 mm

Chapter 19 - 9
 EXAMPLE 4
• The main span of San Francisco’s Golden Gate
Bridge is 1275 m long at its coldest. The bridge is
exposed to temperatures ranging from -15°C to 40
°C. What is its change in length between these
temperatures? Assume that the bridge is made
entirely of steel.

Chapter 19 - 10
 EXAMPLE 5
• A rod of length 5 m is heated to 40°C. If the
length increases to 7 m after some time. Find
the expansion coefficient. Room temperature
is 30°C.

Chapter 19 - 11
 Thermal Conductivity
The ability of a material to transport heat.
Fourier’s Law
temperature
dT
q = −k gradient
heat flux dx
(J/m2-s) thermal conductivity (J/m-K-s)

T1 T2
T2 > T1
x1 heat flux x2

• Atomic perspective: Atomic vibrations and free electrons in

hotter regions transport energy to cooler regions.

Chapter 19 - 12
Thermal Conductivity: Comparison
Energy Transfer
Material k (W/m-K) Mechanism
• Metals
Aluminum 247 atomic vibrations
Steel 52 and motion of free
Tungsten 178
electrons
Gold 315
• Ceramics
increasing k

Magnesia (MgO) 38
Alumina (Al2O3) 39 atomic vibrations
Soda-lime glass 1.7
Silica (cryst. SiO2) 1.4
• Polymers
Polypropylene 0.12
Polyethylene 0.46-0.50 vibration/rotation of
Polystyrene 0.13 chain molecules
Teflon 0.25
Selected values from Table 19.1, Callister & Rethwisch 8e. Chapter 19 - 13
 EXAMPLE 6
• One end of a 0.25 m long metal bar is in steam and
the other in contact with ice. If 15 × 10-3 kg of ice
melts per minute, what is the thermal conductivity of
the metal ? Given cross section of the bar is 7 × 10-4
m2 and latent heat of ice is 80 kcal/kg.

Chapter 19 - 14
 EXAMPLE 7
• The temperatures at the ends of a bar are 95°C at
warmer end and 37°C at the cooler end. The length
of the bar is 0.9 m. what is the temperature at a point
that is 0.3 m from the cooler end of the bar ?

Chapter 19 - 15
 Thermal Stresses
• Occur due to:
-- restrained thermal expansion/contraction
-- temperature gradients that lead to differential
dimensional changes

Thermal stress =  = E (T0 −Tf ) = E T


Chapter 19 - 16
 EXAMPLE 8
A brass rod is to be used in an application requiring its ends to be held rigid. If
the rod is stress free at room temperature 20°C, what is the maximum
temperature to which the rod may be heated without exceeding a compressive
stress of 172 MPa? Assume a modulus of elasticity of 100 Gpa for brass.
Solution:
T0 Original conditions
0
Step 1: Assume unconstrained thermal expansion
0  
= thermal =  (Tf −T0 )
Tf room

Step 2: Compress specimen back to original length

0 
 −
  compress = = −thermal
room
Chapter 19 - 17
 EXAMPLE 8 (cont.)
0 The thermal stress can be directly
calculated as
 
 = E(compress)

Noting that compress = -thermal and substituting gives

 = −E(thermal ) = −E
 (Tf −T0 ) = E (T0 −Tf )

Rearranging and solving for Tf gives

 20ºC
-172 MPa (since in compression)

Tf = T0 −
E

Answer: 106ºC 100 GPa 20 x 10-6/ºC

 Chapter 19 - 18
 Thermal Shock Resistance

The ability of material to withstand thermal stresses due

to the rapid cooling/heating is called thermal shock
resistance.

𝝈𝒇 𝒌
𝑻𝑺𝑹 ≅
𝑬𝜶𝒍

Chapter 19 - 19
skl

Chapter 19 - 20