by KCStudly » Wed Sep 23, 2015 3:09 pm
A little primer on heat transfer: The way I understand it, heat travels thru metal relatively easy compared to wood, and especially easy thru aluminum. If you were to rivet aluminum skin directly to a steel cage there will be a slight resistance to transfer due to the little air gaps and discontinuity between the surfaces, but wherever there is intimate contact, such as where the rivets clamp well, the heat will still travel toward cold. In cold weather the aluminum skin acts like a big radiator, pulling heat out and dissipating it. Now the VHB tape is thin; but it has a thin foam core that allows it to conform to larger and opposing surfaces better (relatively speaking... in other words, the thickness and compliance of the foam core allows the very thin adhesive tape portion on either side to do its job even if the two matting surfaces are imprecise); and it is far less thermally conductive than metal. So by placing the VHB tape between the steel and aluminum you form a thermal break. In addition, you also get a structural bond that greatly reduces the number of rivets needed, and therefore the number of additional thermal bridges, further reducing overall heat transfer. Even a very small thermal break can make a big difference, so the thickness (or thinness) of the tape is not trivial.
KC
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Poet Creek Or Bust
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