Effects of ligaments shape on radiative heat transfer in metal foams

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of ligament shape on radiative behavior, with a specific focus on the inter-dependence among porosity, ligament shape and radiative characteristics. Design/methodology/approach - Using Surface Evolver to generate a base structure and then coherently modifying it, the model presented in this paper aims to tackle these challenges in an improved fashion, all the while making it possible to systematically assess the influence of ligament shape on radiation heat transfer in foams, focussing on the porosity-dependence of ligament shape. Findings - It is found that the prediction of numerical models, at constant size and specific surface of the cells, is strongly affected by the dependence of ligament shape on the porosity. Research limitations/implications - The above said dependence has, therefore, to be accounted for in robust modeling of radiation in foams with a wider range of porosities. Originality/value - The radiative behavior of metal foams has been studied in literature using analytical, numerical and experimental approaches. However, only few researches focussed their attention on the assessment of the relevance of specific micro-structural (i.e. sub-cell size) characteristics.