Inverse Problem for Composites with Imperfect Interface: Determination of Interfacial Thermal Resistance, Thermal Conductivity of Constituents, and Microstructural Parameters

Abstract

An explicit method is introduced to solve inverse problems for composites with imperfect interfaces. We apply the method to determine the thermal conductivity of constituents and the interfacial thermal resistance in SiC‐particulate‐reinforced aluminum‐matrix composites and to estimate the whisker thermal conductivity, the interfacial thermal resistance, and the whisker alignment distribution in two types of SiC‐whisker‐reinforced lithium aluminosilicate glass‐ceramic composites from their measured effective thermal conductivity reported in the literature. Certain bounds for these three properties of both SiC‐whisker‐reinforced glass‐ceramic composites are obtained, and reasonable estimates for their exact values from room temperature to 500°C are made. The inverse problem is quite sensitive to noise in the measurements. We also comment on existing estimates.