text: No truly smooth surfaces really exist, and surface imperfections are visible under a microscope. As a result, when two bodies are pressed together, contact is only performed in a finite number of points, separated by relatively large gaps, as can be shown in Fig. 2. Since the actual contact area is reduced, another resistance for heat flow exists. The gases/fluids filling these gaps may largely influence the total heat flow across the interface. The thermal conductivity of the interstitial material and its pressure, examined through reference to the Knudsen number, are the two properties governing its influence on contact conductance, and thermal transport in heterogeneous materials in general.
  In the absence of interstitial materials, as in a vacuum, the contact resistance will be much larger, since flow through the intimate contact points is dominant.