为提高环路热管毛细芯的抽吸特性,以球形铜粉为原料,Na2CO3为造孔剂烧结制备了不同规格的毛细芯,通过红外成像记录工质爬升过程的方法,研究了造孔剂添加比例和铜粉颗粒直径对毛细芯抽吸特性的影响。结果表明铜粉颗粒直径d对毛细芯的抽吸特性具有显著影响,当不添加造孔剂时,工质在毛细芯中的爬升高度和速度随着d的增大而增大。当添加一定比例(b)的造孔剂后,毛细芯的抽吸特性发生明显改变。在爬升过程初始阶段,工质的爬升高度与速度随着b的增加而增加;随着爬升过程的进行,工质在b适中的毛细芯中的爬升高度逐渐成为最大值。同时,发现随着d的增加,最大爬升高度所对应的造孔剂添加比例不断下降,存在颗粒直径与造孔剂添加比例的最佳匹配关系,并相应地推导出了爬升高度、颗粒直径、造孔剂添加比例之间的实验关联式。
Different porous wicks for loop heat pipes were sintered using copper powder as a raw material and Na2CO3 as a pore forming agent to improve their capillary pumping characteristics. The risen meniscus test was conducted by an infrared imaging method to investigate the effects of Na2CO3 proportion and copper powder diameter on capillary pumping characteristics. The results show that when Na2CO3 is not added, the wetted height and rising velocity of working fluids within wicks increase with the increase of copper powder diameter. The capillary pumping characteristics change with the addition of Na2CO3. The wetted height and rising velocity increase with the increase of Na2CO3 proportion initially, and then the maximum wetted height appears in wicks with moderate Na2CO3 proportion. Moreover, with the increase of copper powder diameter, the wicks with less Na2CO3 proportion show the maximum wetted height, and there exists an optimal "Na2CO3proportion-copper powder diameter" ratio. A correlation equation was proposed considering wetted height, Na2CO3 proportion and copper powder diameter.