Pool boiling heat transfer of a copper microporous coating in borated water

Pool boiling heat transfer of a copper microporous coating was experimentally studied in borated water with a concentration of boric acid from 0.0 to 5.0 vol percent (vol%) to determine the effect of boric acid on boiling heat transfer in water. A high-temperature, thermally conductive microporous coating (HTCMC) was created by sintering copper powder with an average particle size of 67 μm onto a 1 cm × 1 cm plain copper surface with a coating thickness of ~300 μm within a furnace in a vacuum environment. The tests showed that the nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficient (NBHT) of HTCMC became slightly less enhanced as the concentration of boric acid increased but the NBHT coefficient values were still significantly higher than those of the plain surface. The critical heat flux (CHF) values from 0 to 1.0 vol% were maintained at ~2,000 kW/m2, and then, they gradually decreased down to ~1,700 kW/m2 as the concentration increased further to 5.0 vol%. It is believed that the micro-scale pores of the HTCMC were partially blocked by the high boric acid concentration during the nucleate boiling such that the small bubbles were not effectively created using the HTCMC reentrant cavities as the boric acid concentration increased.