The NC State University Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering hosted a conference with the American Carbon Society on March 18 and 19, inviting some of the brightest minds in their research fields to discuss a variety of topics on Thermal Management.
The Thermal Management Symposium and Workshop was organized by MAE professor Cheryl Xu, along with Collins Aerospace Company Senior Technical Fellow Weiming Lu, who has more than 30 years of experience in advanced composite development and processing.
According to Xu’s website, her research focus is on manufacturing of multifunctional ceramic materials, especially on their electrical/dielectric, mechanical, and thermal properties, and how to manufacture such materials for high temperature applications.
Lu and Xu arranged the conference and coordinated with leading experts in Thermal Management from government, industry and academia to discuss the future of high-temperature materials research. The workshop garnered significant attendance with around 45 individuals joining in person, and about 35 online participants. About 30 graduate students from MAE also actively participated in the conference.
Through keynote speeches, panel discussions, poster sessions and hands-on lab tours, we will enhance the understanding of the challenges and opportunities within thermal management and foster collaborations that bridge the gap between theory and application,” the conference program states.
The conference aimed to coverge on four central topics in Thermal Management: Materials for Thermal Insulation, Materials for High Thermal Conductivity, Materials for Constructing Fire / Heat Barriers & Seals, and Thermal Analysis.
Among the experts invited to speak at the conference, MAE Professors Afsaneh Rabiei and Hooman Tafreshi each presented their own research on Thermal Management related topics to conference attendees. Rabiei spoke on her research concerning her Composite Metal Foam technology, while Tafreshi presented his work on Microscale–Macroscale Modeling of Heat Transfer in Fibrous Insulations.
Following presentations from each of the conference participants, two thermal management discussion panels were held to elaborate further on the topics discussed during the presentations.
The first panel discussion covered the challenges faced by the Thermal Management community, and panelists included Suraj Rawal, Carolyn Grimley, Rob Riegle, Andy Reynolds and Marc Simpson.
The second panel discussion covered “future visions” to address the current challenges within the community, and the panelists included Dave Shifler, Bob Burton, Michael Mullins, Julian Norley and Emiel DenHartog.
Information on all of the panelists and experts, along with their applicable research, can be found in the conference program; which discloses many of the abstracts of the talks given as the conference.
To conclude the conference after the panel discussions, visiting participants and NC State faculty were invited to a student poster session, where many MAE students shared their research in Thermal Management with the experts and were able to discuss possible applications, improvements, and future research on their various fields of study.