Investigation of Heat and Mass Transfer in the Processes of Heat Treatment and Drying of Thermal Insulation Materials

The results of the study of heat and mass transfer in the processes of heat treatment and drying processes of thermal insulating materials when the values of the Biot heat exchange criterion are less than one and the main factor is the interaction of the evaporation surface of the material with the environment (external problem) are presented. It was assumed that at low temperature gradients over the cross section of a wet body, thermal transfer of matter can be neglected, and phase transformations are absent (Posnov's criterion is equal to zero). By processing the experimental data on convective heat treatment of materials carried out by the least squares method, experimental equations for calculating the kinetics of drying have been obtained. Equations are given for determining the duration of drying, material temperature, heat flux density. On the basis of the theory of regular thermal regime, equations for the rate of heating of a solid and the rate of decrease in moisture content have been obtained. The verification of the reliability of the obtained equations and comparison of the calculated values of the parameters with the experimental ones are presented. An experimental dependence of the relative drying rate on the dimensionless moisture content has been established. The dependence of the generalized drying time on the relative moisture content is given. Also, based on the analysis of the experimental data on the thermal conductivity coefficients for wet thermal insulation materials, the dependences of the thermal conductivity coefficients on moisture content and temperature have been established. As a result of solving the criterion heat transfer equation, the values of the heat transfer coefficients for the period of the decreasing drying rate are obtained. The values of the Biot criterion in the processes of drying porous ceramics and asbestos are determined, too. It has been determined that the ratio of the moisture content loss rate to the drying rate in the first period does not depend on the drying mode and is a function of the initial moisture content.