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With rising science contents of the engineering research and education, we give examples of the quest for fundamental understanding of heat transfer at the atomic level. These include transport as well as interactions (energy conversion) involving phonon, electron, fluid particle, and photon (or electromagnetic wave). Examples are 1. development of MD and DSMC fluid simulations as tools in nanoscale and microscale thermophysical engineering. 2. nanoscale thermal radiation, where the characteristic structural size becomes comparable to or smaller than the radiation (electromagnetic) wavelength. 3. laser-based nanoprocessing, where the surface topography, texture, etc., are modified with nanometer lateral feature definition using pulsed laser beams and confining optical energy by coupling to near-field scanning optical microscopes. 4. photon-electron-phonon couplings in laser cooling of solids, where the thermal vibrational energy (phonon) is removed by the anti-Stokes fluorescence; i.e., the photons emitted by an optical material have a mean energy higher than that of the absorbed photons.Nanoscale and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, 12: 1-60, 2008 Copyright Ó Taylor 5. exploring the limits of thermal transport in nanostructured materials using spectrally dependent phonon scattering and vibrational spectra mismatching, to impede a particular phonon bands.These examples suggest that the atomic-level heat transfer builds on and expands electromagnetism (EM), atomic-molecular-optical physics, and condensed-matter physics. The theoretical treatments include ab initio calculations, molecular dynamics simulations, Boltzmann transport theory, and near-field EM thermal emission prediction. Experimental methods include near-field microscopy.Heat transfer physics describes the kinetics of storage, transport, and transformation of microscale energy carriers (phonon, electron, fluid particle, and photon). Sensible heat is stored in the thermal motion of atoms in various phases of matter. The atomic energy states and their populations are described by the classical and the quantum statistical mechanics (partition function and combinatoric energy distribution probabilities). Transport of thermal energy by the microscale carriers is based on their particle, quasi-particle, and wave descriptions; their diffusion, flow, and propagation; and their scattering and transformation encountered as they travel. The mechanisms of energy transitions among these energy carriers, and their rates (kinetics), are governed by the match of their energies, their interaction probabilities, and the various hindering-mechanism rate (kinetics) limits. Conservation of energy describes the interplay among energy storage, transport, and conversion, from the atomic to the continuum scales.With advances in micro-and nanotechnology, heat transfer engineering of micro-and nanostructured systems has offered new opportunities for research and education. New journals, including Nanoscale and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, have allowed communi...

Growing thin, nanostructured layers on metallic surfaces is an attractive, new approach to create superhydrophilic coatings on heat exchangers that enhance spray cooling heat transfer. This paper presents results of an experimental study of enhanced droplet spreading on zinc oxide, nanostructured surfaces of this type that were thermally grown on copper substrates. The spreading rate data obtained from experimental high speed videos was used to develop a model specifically for this type of ultrathin, nanoporous layer. This investigation differs from previous related studies of droplet spreading on porous surfaces, which have generally considered either ordered, thin, moderately permeable layers, or thicker, microporous layers. Our layers are both very thin and have nanoscale porosity, making them low-permeability layers that exhibit strong wicking. An added benefit is that the thermally grown, stochastic nature of our surfaces make manufacturing easily scalable and particularly attractive for spray-cooled heat exchanger applications. The model presented here can predict the spreading rate for the wetted footprint of a deposited water droplet over two spreading stages: an early synchronous spreading stage, followed by hemispreading. The comparison of experimental data and model predictions confirms the presence of these two specific spreading stages. The model defines the transition conditions between synchronous and hemispreading regimes based on the change in spreading mechanisms, and we demonstrate that the model predictions of spreading rate are in good agreement with the experimental determinations of droplet footprint variation with time. The results indicate that the early synchronous spreading regime is characterized by flow in the porous layer that is primarily localized near the upper droplet contact line. The potential use of these experimental findings and model for optimizing superhydrophilic, nanostructured surface coatings is also discussed, as it pertains to the surface's ability to enhance water vaporization processes.

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Thermal bubble formation in the microscale is of importance for both scientific research and practical applications. A bubble generation system that creates individual, spherical vapor bubbles from 2 to 500 μm in diameter is presented. Line shape, polysilicon resistors with a typical size of 50 × 2 × 0.53 μm3 are fabricated by means of micromachining. They function as resistive heaters and generate thermal microbubbles in working liquids such as Fluorinert fluids (inert, dielectric fluids available from the 3M company), water, and methanol. Important experimental phenomena are reported, including Marangoni effects in the microscale; controllability of the size of microbubbles; and bubble nucleation hysteresis. A one-dimensional electrothermal model has been developed and simulated in order to investigate the bubble nucleation phenomena. It is concluded that homogeneous nucleation occurs on the microresistors according to the electrothermal model and experimental measurements.

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The concept of disjoining pressure, developed from thermodynamic and hydrodynamic analysis, has been widely used as a means of modeling the liquid-solid molecular force interactions in an ultra-thin liquid film on a solid surface. In particular, this approach has been extensively used in models of thin film transport in passages in micro evaporators and micro heat pipes. In this investigation, hybrid μPT molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to predict the pressure field and film thermophysics for an argon film on a metal surface. The results of the simulations are compared with predictions of the classic thermodynamic disjoining pressure model and the Born-Green-Yvon (BGY) equation. The thermodynamic model provides only a prediction of the relation between vapor pressure and film thickness for a specified temperature. The MD simulations provide a detailed prediction of the density and pressure variation in the liquid film, as well as a prediction of the variation of the equilibrium vapor pressure variation with temperature and film thickness. Comparisons indicate that the predicted variations of vapor pressure with thickness for the three models are in close agreement. In addition, the density profile layering predicted by the MD simulations is in qualitative agreement with BGY results, however the exact density profile is dependent upon simulation parameters. Furthermore, the disjoining pressure effect predicted by MD simulations is strongly influenced by the allowable propagation time of injected molecules through the vapor region in the simulation domain. A modified thermodynamic model is developed that suggests that presence of a wall-affected layer tends to enhance the reduction of the equilibrium vapor pressure. However, the MD simulation results imply that presence of a wall layer has little effect on the vapor pressure. Implications of the MD simulation predictions for thin film transport in micro evaporators and heat pipes are also discussed.