Dr. Cho at the University of Ottawa
Solid State Thermal Energy Research Group
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Grand Research Objective
Human civilization significantly depends on exothermic processes, and heat is the largest portion of byproducts in industrial and scientific processes involved in our daily life. However, due to difficulties in controlling the flow of heat, thermal energy associated with heat is mostly considered waste, and approximately 66% of the energy is lost in form of heat dissipation. My research program investigates the evolution of kinetic energy in solids to acquire the ability to obtain any desired thermal properties in solids, which will enhance our knowledge on how to reduce wasted energy and provide a strong contribution towards creating a sustainable use of energy.
La civilisation humaine dépend fortement des processus exothermiques, et la chaleur représente la plus grande part des sous-produits des procédés industriels et scientifiques de notre vie quotidienne. Cependant, en raison des difficultés à contrôler les flux de chaleur, l'énergie thermique associée est majoritairement considérée comme un gaspillage, et environ 66 % de l'énergie est perdue sous forme de dissipation thermique. Mon programme de recherche porte sur l'évolution de l'énergie cinétique dans les solides afin d'acquérir la capacité d'obtenir les propriétés thermiques souhaitées. Ceci permettra d'améliorer nos connaissances sur la réduction du gaspillage d'énergie et de contribuer significativement à une utilisation durable de l'énergie.
Next-generation thermal barrier coatings
Thermally conductive metal matrix composites
Designing thermal barrier coatings rely on introducing crystal defects such as impurities or porosities, which cannot address low-frequency heat carriers or significantly reduces the mechanical strength. This research project focuses on developing heat insulations using phononic gaps found in novel nanostructured material systems, which will lead to next generation thermal barrier coatings that outperform the state-of-art materials without sacrificing mechanical strength.
This project focuses on designing advanced heat sink materials that can outperform the state-of-art aluminum and copper, which has become highly demanding with the increase of powder densities in electronic devices. One solution is reinforcing the state-of-art metals with thermally conductive materials such as diamond and carbon nanotubes. This research examines the potential of such metal matrix composite materials for heat sink and heat exchanger applications.
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What We Do?
We look at anything that has something to do with engineering the thermal properties of solids!