Boiling Heat Transfer in Liquid Metals

Abstract

This article presents the state-of-the-art review of boiling heat transfer in various liquid metals paying attention to research papers published in the last 15 years. Particular emphasis is laid on the incipient boiling superheat, diagnosis of natural and forced convection boiling, nucleate pool boiling heat transfer in mercury, sodium, potassium, NaK, lithium, and so on at sub- and near atmospheric pressure, effect of liquid level on liquid metal boiling, subcooling effect due to hydrostatic head on liquid metal boiling, effect of magnetic field on liquid metal boiling, pool boiling crisis under various conditions and intermittent boiling of liquid metal, two-phase flow heat transfer, and natural and forced convection film boiling in saturated and subcooled liquid metals. In conclusion, there still remain some ambiguous and unsolved problems which are pointed out in this article. Further studies are of course required to clarify and solve them in future with both theoretical and experimental approaches.