ABSTRACT
For detailed radiation transfer predictions, we need to have spectral or total radiative properties of surfaces and the media between them. These properties are usually considered as the bottleneck in predictions as they are not readily available for many materials. It is possible to obtain some radiative properties from experiments, although the experimental conditions may limit the usefulness of such data. On the other hand, it is possible to derive these properties for homogeneous, optically smooth media using the electromagnetic (EM) wave theory. As we discuss in Chapter 14, the EM theory yields useful trends and provides aunifying basis to help explain radiation phenomena. However, the analyses are inadequate to predict the properties of surfaces that are not perfectly clean or have varying amounts of contaminants or oxides on them. Surfaces in practical applications almost always have varying degrees of surface roughness, which may not be modeled properly. In this chapter, we focus on the properties of real materials and report radiative properties of several opaque materials as afunction of different parameters. In addition, we also demonstrate how radiative properties can be selected for radiative exchange calculations.
