The purpose of this study is to investigate the transient thermal behavior of the convection process of a circular-shaped aluminum alloy plate used in the Hot Surface Deposition Test (HSDT) rig. The temperature distribution and its characteristics over time are investigated by applying certain thermal load and time dependence. As the real deposition test using HSDT involves a process of detaching the aluminum alloy circular plate from the heater block, the transient thermal analysis will provide a base for estimating the time required for the hot plate to cool down to room temperature (25°C-27°C) and safe to be handled. The process of modeling the geometry, meshing, applying the boundary conditions, and evaluating results are conducted experimentally using ANSYS Release 16.2 software. It is indicated in the analysis results that the aluminum alloy circular plate with higher internal temperature undergoes a longer convection process to cool down to room temperature. These results are used to estimate the cooling down time of the hot plate in the real deposition test.
