Influence of Rolling on the Thermal Diffusivity of Metal Alloys by Photothermal Infrared Radiometry

Abstract

The thermal diffusivities of metallic foils subjected to cold-rolling processes have been studied by photothermal radiometry in a thermal transmission and reflection configuration. In this work, measurements were conducted on foils of Al, Cu, and stainless steel (V2A) that were subjected stepwise to cold-rolling process, reducing the sample of around 1 mm, as prepared, to approximately 0.1 mm. It was found that the effect of the cold-rolling is manifested as a relationship between the relative diffusivity and the relative thickness, both with respect to their corresponding initial values. This empirical relationship consists of a linear decrease of the relative diffusivity with the negative of the logarithm of the relative thickness of the sample. Within the approximation of small deformations, this behavior is consistent with linear diminishing of the thermal diffusivity with the degree of rolling. An influence of rolling on both the thermal diffusivity and effusivity was previously observed for a polycrystalline NiTi shape memory alloy with a nearly equi-atomic composition. Due to the thermal-diffusivity behavior of metal alloys due to rolling, a simple microscopic model is proposed to explain this influence upon the effective thermal parameters within the framework of a one-dimensional heat flow perpendicular to the foil surface. The model assumes the reduction of grain sizes and the consequent increase of grain interfaces during rolling as responsible for a larger effective thermal resistance. Numerical results are shown using the available polycrystalline NiTi for both the thermal-diffusivity and thermal-effusivity values.