The influence of surface topography on thermal contact resistance of 7075-T6/beryllium bronze

The calculation of thermal contact resistance is crucial for studying heat transfer between solids. Surface topography has a significant impact on thermal contact resistance, however, the influence of surface topography parameters on thermal resistance is still limited to the parameters such as roughness. The effect of other topography parameters still lacks. Therefore, in this paper, randomly non-Gaussian rough surfaces with specified root mean square roughness value, kurtosis, skewness, and wave lengths are generated by two-dimensional digital filtering method combined with Johnson transformation system. The contact mechanical deformation, heat transfer performance and thermal contact resistance between 7075-T6 and beryllium bronze QBe2 are studied using ABAQUS. The results show that thermal contact resistance is correlated with real contact area. The thermal contact resistance decreases with the increase of pressure, and gradually gets a rise with the increase of root mean square roughness value. Normal distribution of asperities, the isotropic surface, and zero or a low negative value of skewness all can enhance heat transfer efficiency. Our results provide guidance for designing surface topography when heat transfer need be considered in application.