Radiation Heat Transfer in Materials Processing and Manufacturing

During the last decade, thermal design and simulation of a wide range of materials processing and manufacturing (MPM) operations has taken a more prominent role. Careful consideration of transport phenomena has been driven by the desire to improve product quality, decrease production costs, reduce energy requirements, decrease adverse environmental effects, increase product functionality and reduce time to market. Many materials processing and fabrication operations involve heating using either directed (laser, concentrator) or diffuse (high temperature fossil fuel-fired furnaces, electrical resistance, fossil fuel-fired heaters, etc.) sources. The choice of the heating method is usually dictated by the process, temperature level, economic and other considerations. For example, the type of material (i.e., opaque or semitransparent) and its spectral and directional radiation characteristics influence the process and requires careful matching of the radiation characteristics of the “source” and the “target.