Thermal Contact Resistance Measurements

Two experimental rigs are available at the MHTL for measuring the thermal resistance between contacting surfaces. Available test conditions include contact pressures from 0.4 to 9.0 MPa, interface temperatures between 50 C and 250 C, and evacuated, helium or argon environments. Data acquisition and control over the experiment are performed using either an ACRO or a Fluke Helios data logger connected to an IBM PC compatible computer.

Surface Microhardness Testing

The Leitz Durimet Bench-Type Microhardness Tester is a manually-operated device with nine-present indenter loads between 15 and 2000 g. The test bed also allows heated specimens, up to 200 C, to be tested The Shimadzu Bench-Type Microhardness Tester is a semi-automatic hardness tester fitted with a Vickers pyramidal indenter with 11 present indenter loads between 5 and 2000 g. The loading is fully automatic and the loads can be placed on the indenter for a period ranging from 5 to 60 s.

Surface Roughness Testing

Talysurf 5 is a surface texture measurement device that determines surface roughness, waviness and profile for flat or circular surfaces. Test conditions can include a wide range of magnification settings, from 100X to 100,000X, and a range of traverse lengths from 0.56 mm to 56 mm. Cut-off lengths between 0.08 mm and 8 mm are available. A seperate analog-to-digital converter connected to the measuring device can recored digitized height readings at uniformly spaced intervals. This information is analyzed by the device to predict the CLA, the RMS roughness and the RMS surface slope for the surface being examined.