Session: Rising Stars of Mechanical Engineering Celebration & Showcase

Paper Number: 147906

147906 - Career: Prediction and Understanding of Thermal Transport Across Successive Interfaces 

Many cutting-edge applications require heat flow management across successive layers of materials. For example, in the power electronics and radiofrequency electronics used in radars, 5G stations, satellite communications, adapters, inverters, and chargers, the extensive heat generated in the modules needs to be dissipated rapidly through multiple layers of semiconductors in the transistors. In the thermal barrier coatings, hypersonic aircraft thermal protection, and thermoelectrics, the extensive heat needs to be blocked by several layers of different materials. However, heat transport through successive layers and interfaces has not been well understood, impeding the rational design of next-generation chips, electronics, engines, hypersonic vehicles, and other applications. Therefore, the principal aim of this project is to provide an accurate prediction and a deep understanding of thermal transport across successive layers and interfaces of different materials. The project will also encompass significant educational activities, including hands-on science kits and lectures for K-12 students in various local communities, online videos for kids, research internship opportunities for high school students, and a free online graduate course.

The goal of this project is to establish a comprehensive understanding of phonon thermal transport across two or more successive solid interfaces, build a formalism and a simulation framework for successive interfacial thermal transport, accurately predict the thermal transport across several technologically important wide-bandgap semiconductor heterostructures, and enhance modern science and engineering education from kindergarten to graduate levels using diverse methods. The project will (1) establish high-accuracy machine learning interatomic potential-based molecular dynamics simulations for successive interfacial thermal transport predictions; (2) develop new Landauer’s formalisms capable of double and multiple interfacial thermal transport; (3) develop a new phonon Boltzmann transport framework for successive interfacial thermal transport; and (4) reveal how the interfacial thermal conductance, thermal conductivity, mode-resolved phonon transmission, reflection, temperature, and heat flux are affected by (i) the presence of and distance from a second interface, (ii) the roughness of the interfaces, (iii) the materials comprising the interfaces, (iv) the phonon excitations in the external heat source, (v) the conditions far from the interface such as the impurities inside the film and the roughness of edges, and (vi) the presence of more interfaces. The results will be integrated into educational programs to enhance diversity and learning from kindergarten to graduate levels.

Presenting Author: Tianli Feng University of Utah

Presenting Author Biography: Tianli Feng has been an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah since 2021. He holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2011. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 2013 and 2017, respectively, where he was awarded the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship Honor. Prior to his current position, he worked as a Postdoc and then as an R&D Associate Staff Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2017-2021. He received the 2024 NSF CAREER Award, the 2023 Brillouin Medal, and the 2023 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. He published over 70 journal papers, developed simulation packages, Windows-based applications, and online simulation tools, and has 4000+ citations and an h-index of 36. He currently serves as an editorial board member of Energy and Environment Focus.

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