Materials Science

Thermal Properties

Prof. Mikio Miyake

 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
(J/mol-K) temperature change (K)
• Two ways to measure heat capacity:
Cp : Heat capacity at constant pressure.
Cv : Heat capacity at constant volume.
usually: Cp > Cv
J
Heat capacity has units of
mol  K
 Measure Specific Heat
dQ q m VI  t m Battery
cp   
dT T T f  Ti
 To Find cp, Measure
• Block Mass, m (kg)
Insulation
• Voltage, V (Volts)
• Current, I (Amps)
• Initial Temperature, Ti
(K or oC)
• Final Temperature, Tf
(K or oC)
• Run Time, t (s)
 Specific Heats Compared
• cp and C for Substances at 298K
 Dependence of Heat Capacity on
Temperature
• Heat capacity (Cv)
-- increases with temperature
-- for solids it reaches a limiting value of 3R

R = gas constant 3R Cv = constant

= 8.31 J/mol-K

0 T (K)
0 θD
Debye temperature
(usually less than T room )
• From atomic perspective:
-- Energy is stored as atomic vibrations.
-- As temperature increases, the average energy of
atomic vibrations increases.
 Atomic Vibrations
Phonons: atomic vibrations in the form of lattice waves
 Specific Heat (Cp): Comparison

Material cp (J/kg-K)
• Polymers at room T
Polypropylene 1925
Polyethylene 1850
Polystyrene 1170
Teflon 1050
increasing cp

• Ceramics
Magnesia (MgO) 940
Alumina (Al2O3) 775
Glass 840
• Metals
Aluminum 900
Steel 486
Tungsten 138
Gold 128
 Thermal Expansion
Materials size changes depending on temperature

Tinitial
 initial Tfinal > Tinitial
Tfinal
 final

linear coefficient of
thermal expansion (1/K or 1/oC)
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion α :
Comparison
Material α (10-6/°C)
• Polymers at room T
Polypropylene 145-180 Polymers have larger
Polyethylene 106-198 α values because of
Polystyrene 90-150 weak secondary bonds
Teflon 126-216
• Metals • Q: Why does α
increasing 

Aluminum 23.6 generally decrease

Steel 12 with increasing
Tungsten 4.5 bond energy?
Gold 14.2
• Ceramics
Magnesia (MgO) 13.5
Alumina (Al2O3) 7.6
Soda-lime glass 9
Silica (cryst. SiO2) 0.4
Thermal Expansion: Example
Ex: A copper wire 15 m long is cooled from 40 to -9oC.
How much change in length?
 Thermal Conductivity
The ability of a material to transport heat.

Fourier’s Law
temperature
gradient
heat flux
(J/m2s) thermal conductivity (J/m K s)

T1 T2 T2 > T1
x1 x2
heat flux

• Atomic perspective: Atomic vibrations and free electrons in

hotter regions transport energy to cooler regions.
Thermal Conductivity k: Comparison
Energy Transfer
Material k (W/m-K) Mechanism
• Metals
Aluminum 247 atomic vibrations
Steel 52
Tungsten 178 and motion of
Gold 315 free electrons
• 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
Polystyrene 0.13 of chain molecules
Teflon 0.25
 Thermal Stresses α
• Material’s tendency to expand/contract
• If a heated/cooled material is restrained to its
original shape, thermal stresses will develop
within the material
• For a solid material
  E l / lo 
• Where
  Stress (MPa)
E  Modulus of elasticity;
a.k.a., Young’s modulus (GPa)
l  Change in length due to the applied force (m)
lo  Original (unloaded) length (m)
 Example Problem
A brass rod is stress-free at room temperature (20oC).
It is heated, but prevented from lengthening.
At what temperature does the stress reach -172 MPa?
Yang’s module (E) = 100 GPa
Linear coefficient of thermal
T0 expansion (α ) = 20 x 10-6/oC

0
 Thermal Protection System
• Application: Space Shuttle Orbiter
Distribution

reinf C-C silica tiles nylon felt, silicon rubber

• Silica tiles (400-1260C): (1650C) (400-1260C) coating (400C)

-- microstructure:
~90% porosity!
Si fibers
bonded to one
another during
heat treatment.

100 mm