Investigation of the effects of homogeneous and heterogeneous electrodeposited surfaces on Novec-7100 spray cooling through high-speed visualization
Journal
Applied Thermal Engineering
Journal Volume
300
Start Page
131371
ISSN
13594311
Date Issued
2026-07
Author(s)
Abstract
Studies have demonstrated that homogeneous porous surfaces can provide abundant nucleation sites for enhancing phase-change heat transfer during spray cooling; however, their cooling performance is often constrained by a critical trade-off between bubble nucleation and hydraulic resistance. The present study proposes a strategy that entails using heterogeneous electrodeposited surfaces to spatially modulated boiling behavior and capillary wicking action. Four types of modified surfaces, namely copper-, zinc-, copper/zinc/copper-, and zinc/copper/zinc-coated surfaces, were fabricated using an electrodeposition technique. High-speed visualization was employed to investigate liquid film dynamics and heat transfer mechanisms on all fabricated surfaces during Novec-7100 spray cooling. The results revealed that the heterogeneous copper/zinc/copper-, and zinc/copper/zinc-coated surfaces can effectively regulate vapor–liquid interactions through the spatial integration of copper- and zinc-coated areas, which considerably delayed the expansion of surface dryout regions. Compared with a baseline plain copper surface, the copper/zinc/copper- and zinc/copper/zinc-coated surfaces exhibited 117% and 102% higher heat transfer coefficients and 70% and 77% higher critical heat fluxes, respectively.
Subjects
Critical heat flux
Heat transfer coefficient
Heterogeneous electrodeposited surface
High-speed visualization
Spray cooling
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Type
journal article