Thermal Characterization of Microscale Polyester Fibers

1. Thermal Characterization of Microscale Polyester Fibers Quincy Garner Dr. Xinwei Wang, XuhuiFeng

2. Outline • Objectives and motivation • Approach and methods • Lab complications • Results • Current status and planned work

3. Objectives/Motivation • Study the thermal characteristics of microscale polyester fibers • Measure the thermal contact resistance between two microscale polyester wires • Critical for the thermal design of micro-wire based materials and composite materials

4. Approach • Run a pre-existing experimental technique on a new material that has not been studied in depth • Develop a new experimental technique based upon the Transient Electro-Thermal (TET) technique to determine contact resistance between two wires

5. Methods • Extract polyester fiber from clothing • Coat fiber with thin gold coating • Suspend coated fiber between two copper electrodes with silver paste

6. Magnified view of gold coated polyester fiber suspended between two copper electrodes

7. Methods Cont’d… • Place fiber sample in vacuum chamber • Run a step direct current through the fiber sample • Observe the voltage change across the fiber through an oscilloscope • Analyze and perform a curve-fitting to the data to determine the thermal properties of the fiber

8. Oscilloscope Images

9. Lab Complications • Issues with gold coating machine • High electrical resistance in samples • Size of sample makes for difficult preparation • Internal resistance of oscilloscope set incorrectly

10. Results

11. What’s Next? • Finish final polyester samples running TET experiment this week • Proceed to determine the wire to wire thermal contact resistance using a new experimental technique

12. Thermal Contact Resistance

13. Questions???