InverseCalculationofHeatFluxandMeltingDepthduring.docVIP

Inverse Calculation of Operating Temperature and Melting Depth during Microthermal Machining by Scanning Thermal Microscope The aim of the paper is to calculate the heat flux and the melting depth during microthermal machining using a scanning thermal microscope (SThM), based on a modified atomic force microscope (AFM). Thermal probe plays an important role in the SThM. The tip of thermal probe consists of a modified silicon nitride probe with a thermistor deposited on the tip’s apex, is placed at the free end of the cantilever probe and is regarded a heater in this study. The problem of microthermal processing of materials using scanning thermal microscopy regarding the optimum heat flux and melted depth is complicated because the heat flux through the surface of materials is unknown and the interface between the solid and liquid phases moves as the latent heat of fusion acts on the interface. Fig. 1 shows a scanning thermal microscope probe with a heat flux q and it acted on the surface of a semi-infinite slab. When the probe is scanned across the specimen surface, the heat flux will flow on the surface. The heat flux varies with the thermal resistance between the probe tip and the surface of workspiece and it is a function of time. In addition, the moving interface occurs between the solid and liquid phases during thermal processing. Let Z(t) refer to the solid-liquid interface measured from the surface z = 0 at any time t and call it the melted depth. Generally, q(t) and Z(t)are difficult to measure accurately, and they influence the temperature field within the material being thermal processed. The thermal processing can be considered as two heat conduction problems, which consist of thermal transport in the SThM probe and in the workpiece. When the heat flux of the probe tip is unknown, the probe becomes an inverse heat conduction problem. Once solving the inverse problem of the probe, the workpiece also becomes another an inverse heat conduction problem when