Thermal Rectification Effect of Composite Cylinder Based on Interface Thermal Resistance

The excellent thermal rectifier should have a strong thermal rectification effect as well as great heat transfer capability. Interface thermal resistance is proposed here to directionally control thermal flux of the variable-section composite cylinder structure. A simple thermal rectification model has been proposed to theoretically solve the thermomechanical coupling problem, and validated by commercial finite element software. Several key parameters such as interface thermal resistance, geometry and initial interface gap on the thermal rectification ratio are determined according to the parametric influence study, which reveals the mechanism of thermal contact resistance on the thermal regulation effect. Results show that, the key parameters should be optimized to obtain the optimal thermal rectification ratio, while the introduction of the thermal contact resistance and initial interface gap provides an attractive method to regulate the heat flux and optimize the thermal rectification effect.