Effective Thermal Conductivity of Stainless Steel Fiber Sintered Felt With Honeycombed Channels

A novel stainless steel fiber sintered felt (SSFSF) with honeycombed channels (SSFSFHC) is a promising support for catalytic combustion of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The SSFSFHC consists of stainless steel fiber, three-dimensionally reticulated porous structures, and interconnected honeycombed channels. The equivalent thermal conductivity (ETC) of the SSFSFHC is tested. It is found that the ETC of the SSFSFHC increases with the hot side temperature increasing but decreases with the porosity increasing and channel occupied area ratio increasing. The ETC of the SSFSFHC changes little with channel diameter increasing. The heat transfer model of the SSFSFHC is considered as parallel/series combinations of relevant thermal resistances. In order to estimate the ETC of the SSFSFHC, the correlation of the ETC of the SSFSF is derived. The expressions of the axial temperature under different porosities are deduced when eliminating the radial heat transfer between the channel section and the SSFSF section. The relationships of the transferred heats and the corresponding resistances along the radial direction are obtained by assuming that the radial heat transfer can be simplified as a serial of heat resistances located between the channels and the SSFSF.