Corrosion behavior in heat pipe

Abstract

The aim of this study was to perform life testing and determine the effect of working fluid on the corrosion of a heat pipe with a sintered wick. The heat pipe was made from a copper tube. The inner heat pipe was filled with 99.97% pure copper powder as a dendritic for the sintering process. The heat pipe had an outer diameter of 6 mm with a length of 200 mm, and distilled water and ethanol were the working fluids. The operating temperature at the evaporator was 125°C. The analysis consisted of using a scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results of the scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry analysis showed that the corrosion of the heat pipe was uniform. The result of the atomic absorption spectroscopy indicated that the concentration of the copper in the ethanol as the working fluid was greater than in the distilled water as the working fluid, and the highest concentration of copper particles in the ethanol was 22.7499 ppm or 0.0409 mg after testing for 3000 h. The concentration of copper was higher when the length of the life test increased due to corrosion of the heat pipe.