Thermal Effusivity and Thermal Conductivity of Biodiesel/Diesel and Alcohol/Water Mixtures

The photopyroelectric (PPE) technique was used for the determination of the thermal effusivity and thermal conductivity of biodiesel in diesel and other binary liquid mixtures, precisely, ethanol, and ethylene glycol in water. The front configuration (FPPE) has been explored in the frequency scan approach for obtaining thermal-effusivity values. Measurements show good reproducibility, with uncertainties around 1 % to 2 %, and the results for reference samples, such as ethanol and water, are in good agreement with literature values. The thermal-conductivity values of all samples were determined using the thermal-effusivity data presented here and the thermal-diffusivity data of exactly the same set of samples, reported elsewhere. Based on these results, the different strengths in the molecular interactions related to the several mixtures were evidenced, as proposed by Dadarlat et?al. It was shown that, indeed, the thermal effusivity is the property presenting the smallest sensitivity for the molecular association phenomenon, while the thermal conductivity presents an intermediate sensitivity. Nevertheless, the analysis of both properties revealed the existence of weak cohesive interactions among the hydrocarbons of diesel and the esters of biodiesel.     

The Thermal Conductivity, Thermal Diffusivity, and Specific Heat of Liquid n-Pentane

The thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of liquid n-pentane have been measured over the temperature range from 293 to 428 K at pressures from 3.5 to 35 MPa using a transient hot-wire instrument. It was determined that the results were influenced by fluid thermal radiation, and a new expression for this effect is presented. The uncertainty of the experimental results is estimated to be better than ±0.5% for thermal conductivity and ±2% for thermal diffusivity. The results, corrected for fluid thermal radiation, are correlated as functions of temperature and density with a maximum uncertainty of ±2% for thermal conductivity and ±4% for thermal diffusivity. Derived values of the isobaric specific heat are also given.     

The Thermal Conductivity, Thermal Diffusivity, and Heat Capacity of Gaseous Argon

This paper presents new absolute measurements for the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of gaseous argon obtained with a transient hot-wire instrument. Six isotherms were measured in the supercritical dense gas at temperatures between 296 and 423 K and pressures up to 61 MPa. A new analysis for the influence of temperature-dependent properties and residual bridge unbalance is used to obtain the thermal conductivity with an uncertainty of less than 1% and the thermal diffusivity with an uncertainty of less than 4%. Isobaric heat capacity results were derived from measured values of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity using a density calculated from an equation of state. The heat capacities presented here have a nominal uncertainty of 4% and demonstrate that this property can be obtained successfully with the transient hot wire technique over a wide range of fluid states. The technique will be useful when applied to fluids which lack specific heat data.     

Thermal Conductivity,Thermal Diffusivity,and Heat Capacity of Gaseous Argon and Nitrogen

Low-pressure thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurements are reported for argon and nitrogen in the temperature range from 295 to 350 K at pressures from 0.34 to 6.9 MPa using an absolute transient hot-wire instrument. Thermal conductivity measurements were also made with the same instrument in its steady-state mode of operation. The measurements are estimated to have an uncertainty of 1% for the transient thermal conductivity, 3% for the steady-state thermal conductivity, and 4% for thermal diffusivity. The values of isobaric specific heat, derived from the measured thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, are considered accurate to 5% although this is dependent upon the uncertainty of the equation of state utilized.Paper presented at the Sixteenth European Conference on Thermophysical Properties, September 1–4, 2002, London, United Kingdom     

Measurements of Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity of CVD Diamond

The thermal conductivity of natural, gem-quality diamond, which can be as high as 2500 Wm^–1 K^–1 at 25°C, is the highest of any known material. Synthetic diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of films up to 1 mm thick exhibits generally lower values of but under optimal growth conditions it can rival gem-quality diamond with values up to 2200 Wm^–1 K^–1. However, it is polycrystalline and exhibits a columnar microstructure. Measurements on free-standing CVD diamond, with a thickness in the range 25–400 m, reveal a strong gradient in thermal conductivity as a function of position z from the substrate surface as well as a pronounced anisotropy with respect to z. The temperature dependence of in the range 4 to 400 K has been analyzed to determine the types and numbers of phonon scattering centers as a function of z. The defect structure, and therefore the thermal conductivity, are both correlated with the microstructure. Because of the high conductivity of diamond, these samples are thermally thin. For example, laser flash data for a 25-m-thick diamond sample is expected to be virtually the same as laser flash data for a 1-m-thick fused silica sample. Several of the techniques described here for diamond are therefore applicable to much thinner samples of more ordinary material.     

The Thermal Conductivity, Thermal Diffusivity and Isobaric Heat Capacity of Toluene and Argon

This paper presents absolute measurements for the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of toluene obtained with a transient hot-wire instrument employing coated wires over the density interval of 735 to 870 kgm^–3. A new expression for the influence of the wire coating is presented, and an examination of the importance of a nonuniform wire radius is verified with measurements on argon from 296 to 323 K at pressures to 61 MPa. Four isotherms were measured in toluene between 296 and 423 K at pressures to 35 MPa. The measurements have an uncertainty of less than ±0.5% for thermal conductivity and ±2% for thermal diffusivity. Isobaric heat capacity results, derived from the measured values of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, using a density determined from an equation of state, have an uncertainty of ±3% after taking into account the uncertainty of the applied equation of state. The measurements demonstrate that isobaric specific heat determinations can be obtained successfully with the transient hot wire technique over a wide range of fluid states provided density values are available.     

Preparation,Thermal Diffusivity,and Thermal Conductivity of Phosphate Ceramics with the Tridymite Structure

We have synthesized powders of the CsM^IIPO₄ (M^II = Mg, Mn, Co) phosphates with the β-tridymite structure. Phosphate ceramics were produced by conventional cold pressing with inorganic sintering aids, followed by programmed annealing, and by an innovative method: high-speed spark plasma sintering. The thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity (0.3–0.4 W/(m K)) of the CsM^IIPO₄ ceramics indicate that they are heat insulators with a high working temperature.     

Simultaneous Measurement of Specific Heat Capacity, Thermal Conductivity, and Thermal Diffusivity by Thermal Radiation Calorimetry

Thermal radiation calorimetry has been applied to measure the thermal diffusivity of a solid specimen, along with simultaneous measurements of specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity. In this calorimeter, a disk-shaped solid specimen whose surfaces are blackened is heated and cooled slowly on one face by irradiation in a vacuum chamber. A quasi-steady-state approximation in which a linear temperature gradient within the specimen was assumed is considered in the analysis. The validity of this approximation was confirmed by the results of computer simulation based on the control-volume method. Measurements of Pyroceram 9606 and Pyrex 7740 by use of thermocouples in the temperature range between 250 and 400°C gave values consistent with those obtained by previous authors, within experimental error, for all three thermophysical properties.     

Measurements of Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity of Hen Egg-White Lysozyme Crystals and Its Solution Using the Transient Short Hot Wire Method

Protein crystals are an essentially important biological sample to advance the analysis of X-ray structure, but their thermophysical properties, especially thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, have not been studied sufficiently. This current situation can be attributed to various kinds of technical problems; e.g., the fragility of protein crystals and the difficulty of nucleation control. Ideally speaking, protein crystallization should be carried out under a “containerless condition” to eliminate any mechanical distortion of the crystals from the walls. To realize the condition, we have developed an original crystallization method by means of the magneto-Archimedes effect. In this paper, a transient short hot wire method was combined with the technique of magneto-Archimedes effect to realize simultaneous measurement of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) crystals. As the results, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of HEWL crystals were found to be 0.410–0.438 \(\hbox {W}\cdot \hbox {m}^{-1}\cdot \hbox {K}^{-1}\) and 3.77–\(5.18\times 10^{-8}\,\hbox {m}^{2}\cdot \hbox {s}^{-1}\), respectively. We clarified by the crystallizing process of HEWL that the crystals were magnetically levitated at the air–liquid interface and the short hot wire was completely buried into them as the crystals grew. We also measured the HEWL solution by the same methods. The thermal conductivity of the solution had almost the same value as that of water and had little dependency on the concentration of HEWL, but the thermal diffusivity was unclear.     

Experimental Study on the Effective Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity of Nanofluids

This paper reports measurements of the effective thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of various nanofluids using the transient short-hot-wire technique. To remove the influences of the static charge and electrical conductance of the nanoparticles on measurement accuracy, the short-hot-wire probes are carefully coated with a pure Al₂O₃ thin film. Using distilled water and toluene as standard liquids of known thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, the length and radius of the hot wire and the thickness of the Al₂O₃ film are calibrated before and after application of the coating. The electrical leakage of the short-hot-wire probes is frequently checked, and only those probes that are coated well are used for measurements. In the present study, the effective thermal conductivities and thermal diffusivities of Al₂O₃/water, ZrO₂/water, TiO₂/water, and CuO/water nanofluids are measured and the effects of the volume fractions and thermal conductivities of nanoparticles and temperature are clarified. The average diameters of Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, TiO₂, and CuO particles are 20, 20, 40, and 33 nm, respectively. The uncertainty of the present measurements is estimated to be within 1% for the thermal conductivity and 5% for the thermal diffusivity. The measured results demonstrate that the effective thermal conductivities of the nanofluids show no anomalous enhancement and can be predicted accurately by the model equation of Hamilton and Crosser, when the spherical nanoparticles are dispersed into fluids.     

New Transient Hot-Bridge Sensor to Measure Thermal Conductivity, Thermal Diffusivity, and Volumetric Specific Heat

A high sensitivity thermoelectric sensor to measure all relevant thermal transport properties has been developed. This so-called transient hot bridge (THB) decidedly improves the state of the art for transient measurements of the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and volumetric specific heat. The new sensor is realized as a printed circuit foil of nickel between two polyimide sheets. Its layout consists of four identical strips arranged in parallel and connected for an equal-ratio Wheatstone bridge. At uniform temperature, the bridge is inherently balanced, i.e., no nulling is required prior to a run. An electric current makes the unequally spaced strips establish an inhomogeneous temperature profile that turns the bridge into an unbalanced condition. From then on, the THB produces an offset-free output signal of high sensitivity as a measure of the properties mentioned of the surrounding specimen. The signal is virtually free of thermal emf’s because no external bridge resistors are needed. Each single strip is meander-shaped to give it a higher resistivity and, additionally, segmented into a long and short part to compensate for the end effect. The THB closely meets the specific requirements of industry and research institutes for an easy to handle and accurate low cost sensor. As the key component of an instrument, it allows rapid thermal-conductivity measurements on solid and fluid specimens from 0.02 to 100 W· m⁻¹·K⁻¹ at temperatures up to 250°C. Measurements on some reference materials and thermal insulations are presented. These verify the preliminary estimated uncertainty of 2% in thermal conductivity.     

Thermal Conductivity of Tetragonal Cadmium Diphosphide Crystals

Tetragonal cadmium diphosphide (β-CdP₂) single crystals with high structural perfection have been grown and their thermal conductivity has been measured. The results indicate that the higher thermal conductivity across the c axis corresponds to the smaller unit-cell parameter of the crystals (a = 5.08 ± 0.01 Å and c = 18.59 ± 0.05 Å). The observed thermal conductivity anisotropy is tentatively attributed to the fact that structural basis of β-CdP₂ is made up of spectral phosphorus chains running in the [100] and [010] directions.     

Phase Transformation Contributions to Heat Capacity and Impact on Thermal Diffusivity,Thermal Conductivity,and Thermoelectric Performance

The accurate characterization of thermal conductivity κ, particularly at high temperature, is of paramount importance to many materials, thermoelectrics in particular. The ease and access of thermal diffusivity D measurements allows for the calculation of κ when the volumetric heat capacity, ρc_p, of the material is known. However, in the relation κ = ρc_pD, there is some confusion as to what value of c_p should be used in materials undergoing phase transformations. Herein, it is demonstrated that the Dulong–Petit estimate of c_p at high temperature is not appropriate for materials having phase transformations with kinetic timescales relevant to thermal transport. In these materials, there is an additional capacity to store heat in the material through the enthalpy of transformation ΔH. This can be described using a generalized model for the total heat capacity for a material $$\rho {\mathit{c}}_p={\mathit{C}}_{p?}+\mathrm{\Delta }\mathit{H}{(??\mathrm{?}/\mathrm{?}?\mathit{T})}_p$$ where φ is an order parameter that describes how much latent heat responds “instantly” to temperature changes. Here, C_pφ is the intrinsic heat capacity (e.g., approximately the Dulong–Petit heat capacity at high temperature). It is shown experimentally in Zn₄Sb₃ that the decrease in D through the phase transition at 250 K is fully accounted for by the increase in c_p, while κ changes smoothly through the phase transition. Consequently, reports of κ dropping near phase transitions in widely studied materials such as PbTe and SnSe have likely overlooked the effects of excess heat capacity and overestimated the thermoelectric efficiency, zT.     

Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity of Liquid Aromatic Hydrocarbons Undistorted by Radiation Heat Transfer

The values of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity are measured for seven substances (benzene, toluene, -n-m-xylenes, ethylbenzene, and isopropylbenzene) at temperatures T = 293–593 K and pressures P = P _S – 30 MPa. The obtained values of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity differ from the reference values by not more than 15%. The generalizing dependences are given, which describe the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and heat capacity per unit volume of n-alkanes, alkenes, and aromatic hydrocarbons.     

Determining Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity of Low-Density Gases Using the Transient Short-Hot-Wire Method

The transient short-hot-wire method for measuring thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity makes use of only one thermal-conductivity cell, and end effects are taken into account by numerical simulation. A search algorithm based on the Gauss–Newton nonlinear least-squares method is proposed to make the method applicable to high-diffusivity (i.e., low-density) gases. The procedure is tested using computer-generated data for hydrogen at atmospheric pressure and published experimental data for low-density argon gas. Convergence is excellent even for cases where the temperature rise versus the logarithm of time is far from linear. The determined values for thermal conductivity from experimental data are in good agreement with published values for argon, while the thermal diffusivity is about 10 % lower than the reference data. For the computer-generated data, the search algorithm can return both thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity to within 0.02 % of the exact values. A one-dimensional version of the method may be used for analysis of low-density gas data produced by conventional transient hot-wire instruments.     

Anisotropy of the Thermal Conductivity of Parahydrogen Crystals

The anisotropy of thermal conductivity of parahydrogen crystals has been observed for the first time. The thermal conductivity measurements have been made on samples of different diameters at the temperature range from 2 to 8 K.     

Measurements of the Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity of Polymer Melts with the Short-Hot-Wire Method

In this paper, the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of four kinds of polymer melts were measured by using the transient short-hot-wire method. This method was developed from the hot-wire technique and is based on two-dimensional numerical solutions of unsteady heat conduction from a wire with the same length-to-diameter ratio and boundary conditions as those in the actual experiments. The present method is particularly suitable for measurements of molten polymers where natural convection effects can be ignored due to their high viscosities. The results have shown that the present method can be used to measure the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of molten polymers within uncertainties of 3 and 6%, respectively. Further, the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of solidified samples were also measured and discussed.     

A New Pulse Hot Strip Sensor for Measuring Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity of Solids

The pulse hot strip method is a newly developed dynamic method to measure the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of solids. It is based on monitoring the temperature response of a sample to a very short heat pulse liberated by a strip heat source. The instrument's uncertainty is estimated to be less than 3% for both quantities.