Radius of Cut Disc Changes When Heated

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the effects of heating on a circular disc with a hole cut in its center, specifically focusing on how the radius of the hole changes when the entire disc is heated. Participants explore the implications of thermal expansion in materials, considering both theoretical and practical aspects of the phenomenon.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions whether the radius of the hole will increase, decrease, or remain the same upon heating the disc.
  • Another participant suggests that the hole will get bigger due to the expansion of the material, attributing this to the increased movement of atoms or molecules.
  • A follow-up question arises regarding whether the hole expands in the same proportion as the disc that was cut out, which some participants believe it does, given the same material properties.
  • Concerns are raised about the shape of the disc, with one participant asserting that the disc will not stay flat and may bulge, while others argue that uniform heating will maintain the flatness of the disc.
  • A practical application is mentioned regarding turbine discs and shafts, illustrating how temperature differences can affect the fitting of components.
  • One participant provides a mathematical argument supporting the idea that the inner and outer diameters expand proportionally, leading to consistent changes in dimensions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a mix of agreement and uncertainty regarding the proportional expansion of the hole compared to the disc. While some believe the hole will expand uniformly with the disc, others raise questions about the conditions under which this holds true, indicating that the discussion remains unresolved.

Contextual Notes

There are assumptions about the isotropic nature of the material and uniform heating, which may not hold in all practical scenarios. The discussion also touches on the potential for bending and warping when materials with different thermal coefficients are involved.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those studying thermal expansion in materials, engineering applications involving heat treatment, or anyone exploring the physical properties of materials under temperature changes.

castaway
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Well my question is that we have a disc which has negligible thickness , now we cut a small circular disc at the center of the original disc. well now we heat the whole newly obtained body. what will happen to the radius of the disc we had cut?i mean to say the hole , what will happen to the radius of the hole? will it increase or decrease or remain same and why?
 
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The hole (assuming the material is ordianry, ie. expands on heating) will get bigger. a heuristic expanation is that the atoms (or molecules) will be moving faster and push each other apart. In particular the particles at the edge of the hole need more room , so the circle has to get bigger.
 
Does the whole get bigger in the same proportion as the disk that was cut-out? Now that is an interesting question.
 
Epicurus said:
Does the whole get bigger in the same proportion as the disk that was cut-out? Now that is an interesting question.
well i reckon it will be in same proportion as it is the same material and the coefficient of arieal expansion will be same.though thank you for your answer.
 
Of course, the disk will not stay flat!
 
yes shape (in 2d) will remain the same as every part of that material expands at the same rate as you said. as for getting fatter, it will probably bulge a bit.

so yeh the whole thing expands in proportion. its only when you have materials with different thermal coefficients that you get bending and warping happening (which is often useful)
 
If the material is isotropic thermal expansion will affect all linear dimension--including holes--in exactly the same way. No reason to think the disk would not stay flat (assuming you heat it uniformly).
 
yeh what he said
 
Last edited:
castaway said:
Well my question is that we have a disc which has negligible thickness , now we cut a small circular disc at the center of the original disc. well now we heat the whole newly obtained body. what will happen to the radius of the disc we had cut?i mean to say the hole , what will happen to the radius of the hole? will it increase or decrease or remain same and why?
A practical application of this phenomenon is the heating of a turbine disc and the cooling of a shaft in order to allow the disc to be easily positioned on the shaft. When the shaft heats and the disc cools, the disc shrinks onto the shaft.
 
  • #10
castaway said:
Well my question is that we have a disc which has negligible thickness , now we cut a small circular disc at the center of the original disc. well now we heat the whole newly obtained body. what will happen to the radius of the disc we had cut?i mean to say the hole , what will happen to the radius of the hole? will it increase or decrease or remain same and why?
The inside diameter expands with essentially the same temperature coefficient as the outside diameter (assuming that, if necessary, the disk is stiff enough to avoid buckling).

Plausibility argument: Assume the annular ring is heated through a unit raise in temperature. If the inner (r) and outer (R) radii increase by the same factor (1 + a), the important linear dimensions of the annulus (width = R-r, and the inner and outer circumferences) are easily shown to increase by the same factor, and the area increases by exactly the square of this factor (since [tex]\pi*[R(1+a)]^2 - \pi*[r(1+a)]^2 = \pi*(R^2-r^2)*(1+a)^2[/tex]), which is what you want to see.

An alternative argument would be to roughly model the annulus as composed of a series of infinitesimally thin non-interacting rings. Being 1-dimensional creatures, each ring will increase in dimension (radius or circumference) by the same factor (1+a).
 

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