Abstract
The present study investigated the influence of the surface wettability on the behavior of thin liquid film formed around elongated boiling bubble and heat transfer characteristics in flow boiling in a minichannel. Initially the dynamic behavior of the thin liquid film was observed through the air bubble injection experiment. Dewetting of thin liquid film was observed on the silicon surface. On the other hand, the dewetting of the thin liquid film was found to be prevented by use of a superhydrophilic surface. The minichannel boiling experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the dewetting prevention on boiling heat transfer. For the superhydrophilic surface, the critical heat flux was 3.5 MW/m2 that is 3.2 times higher than the bare silicon surface. Super-hydrophilization of the surface was found to be effective to prevent dewetting of the thin liquid film and enhance the critical heat flux in flow boiling in the minichannel.
