Heat diffusion coefficient

The transition between crystalline and amorphous polymers is characterized by the so-called glass transition temperature, Tg. This important quantity is defined as the temperature above which the polymer chains have acquired sufficient thermal energy for rotational or torsional oscillations to occur about the majority of bonds in the chain. Below 7"g, the polymer chain has a more or less fixed conformation. On heating through the temperature Tg, there is an abrupt change of the coefficient of thermal expansion (or), compressibility, specific heat, diffusion coefficient, solubility of gases, refractive index, and many other properties including the chemical reactivity. 

The Lu number is the ratio between the mass diffusion coefficient and the heat diffusion coefficient. It can be interpreted as the ratio between the propagation velocity of the iso-concentration surface and the isothermal surface. In other words, it characterizes the inertia of the temperature field inertia, with respect to the moisture content field (the heat and moisture transfers inertia number). The LUp diffusive filtration number is the ratio between the diffusive filtration field potential (internal pressure field potential) and the temperature field propagation. 

Sc is the Schmidt number for mass-transfer properties, Pr is the Prandd number for heat-transfer properties, and Le is the Lewis number K/(Cjpg ), where K is the gas thermal conductivity and is the diffusion coefficient for the vapor through the gas. Experimental and theoretical values of the exponent n range from 0.56 [Bedingfield and Drew, Ind. Eng. Chem, 42 1164 (1950)] to = 0.667 [Chilton and Colburn, Ind. Eng. Chem., 26 1183 (1934)]. A detailed discussion is given by Keey (1992). Values of P for any system can be estimated from the specific heats, diffusion coefficients, and other data given in Sec. 2. See the example below. 

The temperature dependence of the permeability arises from the temperature dependencies of the diffusion coefficient and the solubility coefficient. Equations 13 and 14 express these dependencies where and are constants, is the activation energy for diffusion, and is the heat of solution... 

An overview of some basic mathematical techniques for data correlation is to be found herein together with background on several types of physical property correlating techniques and a road map for the use of selected methods. Methods are presented for the correlation of observed experimental data to physical properties such as critical properties, normal boiling point, molar volume, vapor pressure, heats of vaporization and fusion, heat capacity, surface tension, viscosity, thermal conductivity, acentric factor, flammability limits, enthalpy of formation, Gibbs energy, entropy, activity coefficients, Henry s constant, octanol—water partition coefficients, diffusion coefficients, virial coefficients, chemical reactivity, and toxicological parameters. 

Values for many properties can be determined using reference substances, including density, surface tension, viscosity, partition coefficient, solubihty, diffusion coefficient, vapor pressure, latent heat, critical properties, entropies of vaporization, heats of solution, coUigative properties, and activity coefficients. Table 1 Hsts the equations needed for determining these properties. 

I0-38Z ) is solved to give the temperature distribution from which the heat-transfer coefficient may be determined. The major difficulties in solving Eq. (5-38Z ) are in accurately defining the thickness of the various flow layers (laminar sublayer and buffer layer) and in obtaining a suitable relationship for prediction of the eddy diffusivities. For assistance in predicting eddy diffusivities, see Reichardt (NACA Tech. Memo 1408, 1957) and Strunk and Chao [Am. ln.st. Chem. Eng. J., 10, 269(1964)]. 

An important mixing operation involves bringing different molecular species together to obtain a chemical reaction. The components may be miscible liquids, immiscible liquids, solid particles and a liquid, a gas and a liquid, a gas and solid particles, or two gases. In some cases, temperature differences exist between an equipment surface and the bulk fluid, or between the suspended particles and the continuous phase fluid. The same mechanisms that enhance mass transfer by reducing the film thickness are used to promote heat transfer by increasing the temperature gradient in the film. These mechanisms are bulk flow, eddy diffusion, and molecular diffusion. The performance of equipment in which heat transfer occurs is expressed in terms of forced convective heat transfer coefficients. 

The energy of large and medium-size eddies can be characterized by the turbulent diffusion coefficient. A, m-/s. This parameter is similar to the parameter used by Richardson to describe turbulent diffusion of clouds in the atmosphere. Turbulent diffusion affects heat and mass transfer between different zones in the room, and thus affects temperature and contaminant distribution in the room (e.g., temperature and contaminant stratification along the room height—see Chapter 8). Also, the turbulent diffusion coefficient is used in local exhaust design (Section 7.6). 

In this section we discuss the basic mechanisms of pattern formation in growth processes under the influence of a diffusion field. For simphcity we consider the sohdification of a pure material from the undercooled melt, where the latent heat L is emitted from the solidification front. Since heat diffusion is a slow and rate-limiting process, we may assume that the interface kinetics is fast enough to achieve local equihbrium at the phase boundary. Strictly speaking, we assume an infinitely fast kinetic coefficient. 

From various studies" " it is becoming clear that in spite of a heat flux, the overriding parameter is the temperature at the interface between the metal electrode and the solution, which has an effect on diffusion coefficients and viscosity. If the variations of these parameters with temperature are known, then / l (and ) can be calculated from the hydrodynamic equations. 

The work of Porter et al. has shown that for copper in phosphoric acid the interfacial temperature was the main factor, and furthermore this was the case for positive or negative heat flux. Activation energies were determined for this system they indicated that concentration polarisation was the rate-determining process, and by adjustment of the diffusion coefficient and viscosity for the temperature at the interface and the application of dimensional group analysis it was found that ... 

Temperature gradients within the porous catalyst could not be very large, due to the low concentration of combustibles in the exhaust gas. Assuming a concentration of 5% CO, a diffusion coefficient in the porous structure of 0.01 cms/sec, and a thermal conductivity of 4 X 10-4 caI/sec°C cm, one can calculate a Prater temperature of 1.0°C—the maximum possible temperature gradient in the porous structure (107). The simultaneous heat and mass diffusion is not likely to lead to multiple steady states and instability, since the value of the 0 parameter in the Weisz and Hicks theory would be much less than 0.02 (108). 

Measurements of axial mixing in a hydrogen-a-methylstyrene bubble-column have been reported by Farkas (FI). Measurements of axial heat diffusion were carried out, the diffusion coefficient being of the order of 7.5 cm2/sec at a nominal gas velocity of about 4 cm/sec, a value that is in good agreement with some of the results of Siemes and Weiss. 

In addition, it was concluded that the liquid-phase diffusion coefficient is the major factor influencing the value of the mass-transfer coefficient per unit area. Inasmuch as agitators operate poorly in gas-liquid dispersions, it is impractical to induce turbulence by mechanical means that exceeds gravitational forces. They conclude, therefore, that heat- and mass-transfer coefficients per unit area in gas dispersions are almost completely unaffected by the mechanical power dissipated in the system. Consequently, the total mass-transfer rate in agitated gas-liquid contacting is changed almost entirely in accordance with the interfacial area—a function of the power input. 

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