Effects of chloride ion concentration on porous surfaces and boiling heat transfer performance of porous surfaces

Porous surfaces are a common modified surface used to enhance boiling heat transfer. In this paper, a method for preparing gradient porous surfaces is presented, that is, magnetic stirring is added to the electrolyte and the cathode surface to be deposited is placed vertically downward. Within the Cl ion concentration range of 30–140 mg/L, increasing the Cl ion concentration results in lager pore sizes. When the Cl concentration was greater than 120 mg/L, the average pore size of the surface gradually increased from the center to the edge, and the number of pores gradually decreased from the center to the edge. All surfaces showed superhydrophilicity. The critical heat flux of Sample#3 is 158.72 W/cm2, which is 67% higher than the smooth surface. The wall superheat of Sample#3 was only 15 °C in the critical state. This porous surface has plenty of nucleation sites. These nucleation sites are gradually activated when the heat flux increases. At low heat fluxes, heat transfer on these porous surfaces presents a disadvantage because the nucleation sites are not fully activated. At high heat fluxes, these porous surfaces show a decrease in wall temperature. Consequently, the porous surface prepared in this paper has good boiling heat transfer at high heat flux.