Investigation of heat transfer in a copper-infiltrated tool steel based on measurement, microtomography, and numerical simulation

Publication date: 15 October 2018
Source:Materials & Design, Volume 156
Author(s): S. Klein, S. Weber, W. Theisen
Copper-infiltrated tool steels potentially combine the good mechanical properties of tool-steels and the superior electrical and thermal conductivity of copper. However, their effective properties greatly depend on the constitution of the components as well as their topology. In this work, the copper-infiltrated cold-work tool steel of type X245VCrMo9-4-4 is analyzed. The thermal conductivity (TC) of the composite and its components is measured and their topology is analyzed by means of X-ray microtomography (μCT). Using the digitized topology and the attained properties, numerical FE simulations were laid out, which allowed the detailed investigation of heat transfer in the material. The results indicate, that 1) the simulated thermal conductivity is very sensitive to the assumed thermal boundary conductance (TBC) 2) the TBC can be approximated by iteratively converging the simulation results to the measured TC 3) both components contribute to the effective thermal conductivity (1/6 steel + 5/6 copper) and act as a bypass for each other, preventing hot spots 4) small increases in the copper content increase the TC by shortening the effective heat conduction path.

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