Heat transfer to boiling helium

Abstract

The coefficient of heat transfer between a smooth vertical silver surface and liquid helium is typically 0.020±0.005 W cm-2°K -1 for convection and increases in the pool boiling range to 0.22 W cm-2°K-1 for 0.040°K superheat at 4.0°K. The heat transfer rate for pool boiling decreases with decreasing temperature between 4.0°and 2.5°K in proportion to the latent heat of vaporization and inversely as the molar volume of the vapor at the pressure and temperature of the experiment. The superheat in the steady state is determined by the volume rate of gas production at the surface. The hysteretic nature of the heat transfer curves in the boiling range suggests a nucleation mechanism strongly dependent on the thermal history of the specimen. © 1963 The American Institute of Physics.