Thermal contact resistance between the surfaces of silicon and copper crucible during electron beam melting

• A model for TCR of silicon–copper during EBM is proposed.
• TCR is important data for calculating temperature field during EBM.
• The effects of temperature and pressure on TCR are discussed.
• The relationship between the TCR and pressure is obtained.
• The numerical results agree with existing experimental results.

This paper proposed a theoretical model to determine the thermal contact resistance (TCR) on the surfaces of silicon and copper during electron beam melting. The effect of temperature and pressure on TCR, based on specific melting process conditions, was discussed. Hertz's theory was used to analyze the characteristics of material surfaces and to calculate the relationship between the pressure and distance of contact surfaces, the real contact area and the number of contact asperities combined with the physical characteristics of the material. The geometric parameter of the theoretical model was obtained based on theoretical calculations. The TCR of the entire surface was obtained by analyzing the temperature field of silicon and copper using Ansys and TCR equations. The relationship among TCR, pressure, and temperature were found. The computational results agreed with existing experimental results.