Investigation of use of metal foams as heat exchanger in vehicles

Association with development of technology, the metarial industry also has grown up everyday. Metalic foams are new materials that have showed up in last years. Due to their porously structer which is their most key feature, they have advantages such as slightness, thermal conductivity, low vibration and resistance against to forces. So they become more important day by day. In this study, using of aluminium foam material as a heat exchanger was investigated by taking into account thermal conductivity of aluminium. Firstly, heat exchanger was designed and aluminium foam with opened porous was produced properly. Inner and external areas of heat exchanger were filled with aluminium foam. The temperature changes in inlet and outlet of fluid in system were compared between filled and unfilled heat exchanger by using four thermocouples. According to experimental datas, better results were obtained with using of aluminium foam. So, it can be said that aluminium foams increase the thermal conductivity and can be usen as lubrication cooler material in vehicles. Keywords: Aluminium Foam, Heat Exchanger, Metallic Foam, Heat Transfer