A young engineer is asked to design a themal protection barricr for a
sensitive clectronic device that might be exposed to irradiation from a high-
powered infrarcd laser. Having learmed as a student thut a low thermal
conductivity material provides good insulating characteristics, the enginecr
specifies use of a nanostructured aerogel, characterized by a thermal
conductivity of \(k_{e}=\) 0.0ns W/m - \(\mathrm{K}\), for the protective harrier.
The engineer's boss questions the wisdom of selecting the acrogel because it
has a low themal conductivity. Consider the sudden laser irradiation of (a)
peire aluminum, (b) glass, and (c) aerogel. The laser provides irradiation of
\(G=10 \times 10^{6}\) Whm \({ }^{2}\). The absorptivities of the materials are
\(a=0.2,0.9\), and \(0.8\) for the aluminum, glass, and acrogel, rerpectively, and
the initial ternperature of the barrier is \(T_{i}=300 \mathrm{~K}\). Explain
why the boss is concerncd. Hint: All materials experience thetmal expunsion
(or contraction), and local stresses that develop within a material are, to a
first approximation, proportional io the local temperahure gradicnt.