Thermal Radiation: Abolencia, Edin Hayel T., Sanchez, Krizia, Soriano, Allan

THERMAL RADIATION
Abolencia, Edin Hayel T.1*, Sanchez, Krizia2*, Soriano, Allan3*
1,2Student, 3Professor, CHE151L ABSTRACT

– B21, Mapúa University, School One of the fundamental mechanisms of heat transfer is thermal radiation. In thermal radiation, no
of Chemical Engineering, medium is needed in order for heat transfer to occur. The energy is transferred in the form of
Chemistry, Biological electromagnetic waves. The radiation energy is absorbed by a material and is emitted as thermal
Engineering, and Materials energy. The dimensionless value defined as the ratio of the energy radiated from a material’s surface
Science and Engineering, Mapúa to that radiated from a body dependent on temperature and wavelength at the same viewing
University, Muralla Street, conditions is called emissivity. For the estimation of the emissivity of various materials, Steffan-
Intramuros, Manila, Philippines Boltzmann law is used. For the experiment, three materials were used - Matt black, Silver anodized
1002 and Polished plates. Also, the effect of changing the operating temperature to the emissivity of these
materials was determined. One significant finding in this experiment was the comparison between the
emissivity of the three materials mentioned. The calculated emissivity of the Matt black, Silver
anodized and Polished plates are 0.96, 0.72 and 0.65, respectively. Comparing this to the literature
values, the errors are 4%, 17.24% and 103.25%. As the material becomes more polished, more
errors were encountered. The reason for this could be the inefficiency of the equipment to record
accurate data for more polished materials. Also, the effect of temperature to emissivity was
determined. Both Matt black and Silver anodized plates have increasing trend of curve, wherein as
the temperature increases, the emissivity increase as well. However, in the case of Polished plate,
the trend of curve is fluctuating. There are several factors affecting the actual results such as the
radiation wavelength, surface finish, color of the material, etc.
Keywords: thermal radiation, emissivity, Steffan-Boltzmann law
INTRODUCTION constant with the value of 5.676x10-8 W/m2-K4, n is the

refractive index, while Tp is the temperature of the plate in K
Thermal radiation is one of the fundamental mechanisms of and Ts is the temperature of the surroundings in K. The
heat transfer. It is the electromagnetic radiation generated by temperature of the plate is the same to the temperature of the
thermal motion of charged particles in matter. Because of the heat source.
random motion from the excitation of the molecules due to
collisions, random emissions of electromagnetic waves occur. In the thermal radiator used in this experiment, the default
Due to the random nature, energy transformation leads to equation for the radiation emitted is
emission over a wide spectral band in the electromagnetic
spectrum. 𝑅(. 0632 + 𝐿2 )
𝑞𝑒𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 =
. 0632
All matter with a temperature greater than the absolute zero
can emit thermal radiation. Radiative heat transfer is the only where R is the reading at the radiometer in (W/m2) and L is the
heat transfer that does not require a medium. However, for any distance between the sensor and the plate.
particular wavelength and temperature, the amount of thermal Thermal radiators are calibrated using blackbody reference
radiation emitted is dependent on the emissivity of an object’s sources that have emissivity value close to 1. This “blackbody”
surface. Emissivity is a dimensionless value defined as the (see Figure 1) emits a temperature-dependent spectrum of
ratio of the energy radiated from a material’s surface to that light. It absorbs all the electromagnetic radiation that will touch
radiated from a body dependent on temperature and its surface, no radiation will pass through and non is reflected.
wavelength at the same viewing conditions. The emissivity is It is a both a perfect emitter and absorber.
calculated using the Stefan-Boltzmann equation:
𝑞𝑒𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 = 𝜀𝜎𝑛2 (𝑇𝑝4 − 𝑇𝑠4 )
𝑞𝑒𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 is the radiation emitted by the surface (W/m2), 𝜀 is

the emissivity of the surface, 𝜎 is the Stefan-Boltzmann
| 1
Procedure. The plate was installed on the plate stand with a
125-mm space from the heat source (see Figure 3). The
thermocouple attached to the plate was connected into the unit
console. The power knob was first set to low (or 1). After
setting the power, the temperature on the plate was allowed to
stabilize for 15 minutes. The cover of the heat source was then
removed. After 2 minutes, the temperature and radiometer
reading was recorded (see Figure 4).
The cover was put back to the heat sensor and the power
Figure 1. Blackbody representation setting was set to high (or 3). The temperature stabilization
and recording of the data were repeated.
Factors that can affect electromagnetic radioactive transfer for
real surfaces are the angle of incidence, wavelength,
temperature and the surface finish of the receiving body.
The objectives of this experiment is to evaluate and compare

the emissivity of three different plates of varying surface
textures and to compare the effects of varying temperatures on
the emissivity on the three plates
METHODOLOGY
Materials. The materials used in the experiment were thermal

radiation unit (see Figure 2), thermometer, and plates. The
thermal radiation unit consists of a heat source, sensor, plate Figure 3. Installed Plate
stand, scale measurement for distance, power control knob,
thermocouple for the plate temperature reading, temperature
display, radiometer, and radiometer display. The plates used
for the observation of thermal radiation were matt black, silver-
anodized, and polished.
Figure 4. Temperature and Radiometer Reading
The steps were repeated for the remaining two plates.
Treatment of Results. The radiation emitted by the surface, q

(W/m2), was calculated using Equation 1 where R is the
radiometer reading (W/m2) and L is the distance of heat sensor
from the plate (mm).
𝑅(0.0632 + 𝐿2 )
𝑞𝑟 = [1]
Figure 2. Thermal Radiation Unit Setup 0.0632
The emissivity of the plate (𝜀) was calculated using Equation 2

where R is the radiometer reading (W/m2), L is the distance of
heat sensor from the plate (mm), Tp is the temperature of the
| 2
plate (K), and Ts is the temperature of the surroundings (K), σ
is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.676 W/m2·K4), and η is the
refractive index (for air, η = 1). The average emissivity for the
high and low setting was calculated as the experimental
emissivity.
𝑅(0.0632 + 𝐿2 )
𝜀= [2]
𝜎0.0632 𝜂 2 (𝑇𝑝2 − 𝑇𝑠4 )
The experimental emissivity for each plate was compared to

the theoretical emissivity (see Table 1) by calculating the
percent error.
Table 1. Theoretical Emissivity of Plates Used
Plate Type Theoretical Emissivity

Matt Black Plate 1
Silver-anodized Plate 0.87
Polished Plate 0.32
| 3

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THERMAL RADIATION

Abolencia, Edin Hayel T.1, Sanchez, Krizia2, Soriano, Allan3*

1,2Student, 3Professor, CHE151L ABSTRACT

Keywords: thermal radiation, emissivity, Steffan-Boltzmann law

INTRODUCTION constant with the value of 5.676x10-8 W/m2-K4, n is the

𝑞𝑒𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 = 𝜀𝜎𝑛2 (𝑇𝑝4 − 𝑇𝑠4 )

𝑞𝑒𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 is the radiation emitted by the surface (W/m2), 𝜀 is

The objectives of this experiment is to evaluate and compare

Materials. The materials used in the experiment were thermal

Figure 4. Temperature and Radiometer Reading

The steps were repeated for the remaining two plates.

Treatment of Results. The radiation emitted by the surface, q

The emissivity of the plate (𝜀) was calculated using Equation 2

The experimental emissivity for each plate was compared to

Table 1. Theoretical Emissivity of Plates Used

Plate Type Theoretical Emissivity

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