Thermophysical Parameters of Optical Glass BK 7 Measured by the Pulse Transient Method

This paper is focused on the pulse transient method. The theory of the method and the measuring regime (time window) are analyzed. The results of the analysis are verified on borosilicate crown glass BK7, which is a candidate for a standard for thermal conductivity. Thermal contact and surface effects affect the length of the time window in which the evaluation procedure is applied. The one-point evaluation technique is compared with the results of the fitting procedure that uses the time window found by difference analysis. The values of the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat were found to be 1.05 W· m^–1 · K^–1, 0.548 × 10^–6m ^{– 2} · s^–1, and 767 J· kg^–1 · K^–1, respectively, using the one-point evaluation technique.Paper presented at the Sixteenth European Conference on Thermophysical Properties, September 1–4, 2002, London, United Kingdom.     

Thermal conductivity measurements of pacific illite sediment

Results are reported for effective thermal conductivity measurements performed in situ and in core samples of illite marine sediment. The measurements were obtained during a recent oceanographic expedition to a study site in the north central region of the Pacific Ocean. This study was undertaken in support of the U.S. Subseabed Disposal Project, the purpose of which is to investigate the scientific feasibility of using the fine-grained sediments of the sea floor as a repository for high-level nuclear waste. In situ measurements were made and 1.5-m-long hydrostatic piston cores were taken, under remote control, from a platform that was lowered to the sea floor, 5844 m below sea level. The in situ measurement of thermal conductivity was made at a nominal depth of 80 cm below the sediment surface using a specially developed, line-source, needle probe. Thermal conductivity measurements in three piston cores and one box core (obtained several kilometers from the study site) were made on shipboard using a miniature needle probe. The in situ thermal conductivity was approximately 0.91 W · m^–1 · K^–1. Values determined from the cores were within the range 0.81 to 0.89 W · m^–1 · K^–1.Paper presented at the Ninth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 24–27, 1985, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.     

An improved comparative thermal conductivity apparatus for measurements at high temperatures

An apparatus developed for the measurement of thermal conductivity of solids at temperatures from 350 to 1250 K in air, vacuum, or any other controlled atmosphere is described. It is based on the steady-state axial heat flow comparative method and can be used for measurements of conductivities in the range 1 to 100 W·m^–1·K^–1. New heat source layout gives uniform heat flux across the specimen column, improving the accuracy of the measurements. The specimen stack is fixed in a rigid frame. It incorporates convection current breakers, eliminating thermal insulation of the stack and thereby considerably increasing the ease of specimen mounting. The accuracy of measurements was assessed by measuring the thermal conductivity of approved reference materials and is found to be within ±3%. The results of measurements on nickel of known purity are also presented. Error analysis of the system shows that the determinate error leaving the uncertainty in the thermal conductivity of the reference materials, is less than ±2%.     

The thermal conductivity and heat capacity of gaseous argon

This paper presents new absolute measurements of the thermal conductivity and of the thermal diffusivity of gaseous argon obtained with a transient hot-wire instrument. We measured seven isotherms in the supercritical dense gas at temperatures between 157 and 324 K with pressures up to 70 MPa and densities up to 32 mol · L^–1 and five isotherms in the vapor at temperatures between 103 and 142 K with pressures up to the saturation vapor pressure. The instrument is capable of measuring the thermal conductivity with an accuracy better than 1% and thermal diffusivity with an accuracy better than 5%. Heat capacity results were determined from the simultaneously measured values of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity and from the density calculated from measured values of pressure and temperature from an equation of state. The heat capacities presented in this paper, with a nominal accuracy of 5%, prove that heat capacity data can be obtained successfully with the transient hot wire technique over a wide range of fluid states. The technique will be invaluable when applied to fluids which lack specific heat data or an adequate equation of state.     

Radiative heat exchange method for thermal conductivity measurement applying a perpendicular heat flow to a thin-plate sample: Principle and apparatus

To measure thermal conductivity of materials of low conductivity (0.1 to 1 W·m^–1·K^–1), a method using a specimen of small size (2×25×25 mm) has been developed. This method applies a well-defined, steady, and uniform heat flux perpendicular to the surface of a small plate sample of polymers or ceramics jointly by means of radiative heat exchange as well as by an areal heater on the sample surface and allows a reasonably rapid (5-min) measurement of thermal conductivity. This method of measuring conductivity is an absolute and direct measurement method which does not need any standard reference materials or information about heat capacity. The principle of the method has been demonstrated by constructing a measurement apparatus and measuring thermal conductivity of a few materials. The thermal conductivities of silicone rubber and Pyrex (Corning 7740) glass measured by the present method between 30 and 90°C are compared with recommended values.     

Thermal conductivity of pure monoisotopic silicon

The thermal conductivity of pure monoisotopic silicon is estimated by two methods, which give similar results. One estimate, based on the observed thermal conductivity of monoisotopic germanium, yields a maximum of 66 W · cm^–1 · K^–1 at 22 K. The other estimate, based on measurements of natural silicon and on the theoretical isotope scattering rate, yields 75 W · cm^–1 · K^–1 at 22 K, an increase of only 45% over the natural crystal. These values are for crystals of approximately 0.5 cm diameter; smaller crystals yield lower values of the maximum conductivity and smaller isotope effects. Silicon cooled to liquid hydrogen temperature seems promising for high-irradiance laser mirrors. The small gain obtained by using monoisotopic silicon would be substantially greater in cases when the generated phonon distribution is athermal and weighted to higher frequencies. The effective heat transport could then be increased by as much as a factor 60 through the use of monoisotopic silicon.     

Thermal Conductivity of Opacified Powder Filler Materials for Vacuum Insulations1

The thermal conductivity of powder fillings for load-bearing vacuum insulations is investigated. Different opacifiers have been tested in mixtures with perlite powder, precipitated silica, and fumed silica. Using temperature-dependent thermal conductivity measurements, the radiative thermal conductivity and the solid conductivity of the powder samples are separated. Additionally, the influence of the pressure load on the solid conductivity is studied. The thermal conductivities of silica powders with added opacifier powders (carbon black, magnetite, silicon carbide, titanium dioxide) can be as low as 0.003 W·m^–1·K^–1 if the powder boards are pressed with moderate loads. The use of microporous silica powders as filler materials allows internal gas pressures even beyond 10 hPa with only a moderate increase of the overall conductivity.     

Thermal Conductivity of Aqueous Potassium Chloride Solutions

This paper presents new absolute measurements of the thermal conductivity of aqueous potassium chloride solutions using the transient coated-hot-wire technique. The data cover the range from 295 to 360 K at pressures slightly above the vapor pressures and over a concentration range of 0 to 3 mol·kg^–1. The instrument can be used to measure the thermal conductivity with a reproducibility of better than 0.2%, and a comparison of the present results with data available in the literature indicates that the uncertainty of the present data is better than 0.5%. An empirical correlation that reproduces the data within the claimed uncertainty is presented.     

Establishment of an empirical correlation for estimating the thermal conductivity of igneous rocks

A correlation to predict the thermal conductivity of andesitic igneous rocks is developed from measured data on drill cores from wells from the Los Azufres geothermal field, Mexico. The correlation was developed from density, porosity, and thermal conductivity. Seventeen determinations were made on drill cores extracted at varying depths from 12 wells. Thermal conductivity varied from 1.05 to 2.34 W · m^–1 · K^–1, while bulk density varied from 2050 to 2740 kg · m^–3 and grain density varied from 2610 to 2940 kg · m^–3. Total porosity varied from 1.9 to 24.7%. Two polynomial regressions, one linear and one quadratic, were tested on the thermal conductivity-times-bulk density product, with total porosity as the independent variable. The correlation coefficients and residual mean square deviations were 0.83 and 0.00491 for the linear fit and 0.87 and 0.00425 for the quadratic model, respectively. For porosities up to about 18%, both models showed very close predictions, but for larger values, the quadratic model appeared to be better and it is recommended for the porosity range from 0 to 25%. Furthermore, density and porosity may be determined from drill cuttings, which are more readily available than cores.Paper presented at the Tenth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 20–23, 1988, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.     

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.     

Measurement of the thermal conductivity of molten semiconductors

The thermal conductivity of molten InSb in the temperature range between 800 and 870 K was measured by the transient hot-wire method using a ceramic probe. The probe was fabricated from a tungsten wire printed on an alumina substrate and coated with a thin alumina layer. The thermal conductivity was found to be about 18 W· m^–·K^–at the melting point and increased moderately with increasing temperature. The thermal conductivity of alumina used as the substrate for the probe was also measured in the same temperature range.Paper presented at the Tenth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 20–23, 1988, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.On leave from NEC Corporation.     

Thermophysical measurements on solid and liquid rhenium

A fast resistive heating technique was used to measure such thermophysical data of solid and liquid rhenium as enthalpy, specific heat, thermal volume expansion, and electrical resistivity. The measurements are performed with heating rates of slightly more than 10⁹ K · s ^–1 up to states of superheated liquid rhenium (7500 K).Paper presented at the Ninth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 24–27, 1985, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.     

Thermal conductivity of air in the range 312 to 373 K and 0.1 to 24 MPa

We have used the transient hot-wire technique to make absolute measurements of the thermal conductivity of dry, CO₂-free air in the temperature range from 312 to 373 K and at pressures of up to 24 MPa. The precision of the data is typically ±0.1%, and the overall absolute uncertainty is thought to be less than 0.5%. The data may be expressed, within their uncertainty, by polynomials of second degree in the density. The values at zero-density agree with other reported data to within their combined uncertainties. The excess thermal conductivity as a function of density is found to be independent of the temperature in the experimental range. The excess values at the higher densities are lower than those reported in earlier work.Nomenclature Thermal conductivity, mW · m^–1 · K^–1 - Density, kg · m^–3 - C _p Specific heat capacity at constant pressure, J · kg^–1 · K^–1 - T Absolute temperature, K - q Heat input per unit wire length, W · m^–1 - t Time, s - K(=/C _p) Thermal diffusivity, m² · s^–1 - a Wire radius, m - Euler's constant (=0.5772 ) - p _c Critical pressure, MPa - T _c Critical temperature, K - _c Critical density, kg · m^–3 - R Gas constant (=8.314 J · mol^–1 · K^–1) - V _c Critical volume, m³ · mol^–1 - Z _c(=p _c V _c/RT _c) Critical compressibility factor     

Thermal conductivity of hydrogen for temperatures between 78 and 310 K with pressures to 70 MPa

The paper presents new experimental measurements of the thermal conductivity of hydrogen. The ortho-para compositions covered are normal, near normal, para, and para-rich. The measurements were made with a transient hot wire apparatus. The temperatures covered the range from 78 to 310 K with pressures to 70 MPa and densities from 0 to a maximum of 40 mol · L^–1. For compositions normal and near normal, the isotherms cover the entire range of pressure, and the temperatures are 78, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 275, 294, 300, and 310K. The para measurements include eight isotherms at temperatures from 100 to 275 K with intervals of 25 K, pressures to 12 MPa, and densities from 0 to 12 mol · L^–1. Three additional isotherms at 150, 250, and 275 K cover para-rich compositions with para percentages varying from 85 to 72%. For these three isotherms the pressures reach 70 MPa and the density a maximum of 30 mol · L^–1. The data for all compositions are represented by a single thermal conductivity surface. The data are compared with the experimental measurements of others through the new correlation. The precision (2) of the hydrogen measurements is between 0.5 and 0.8% for wire temperature transients of 4 to 5 K, while the accuracy is estimated to be 1.5%.     

The thermal conductivity of propane

This paper presents thermal conductivity measurements of propane over the temperature range of 192–320 K, at pressures to 70 MPa, and densities to 15 mol · L^–1, using a transient line-source instrument. The precision and reproducibility of the instrument are within ±0.5%. The measurements are estimated to be accurate to ±1.5%. A correlation of the present data, together with other available data in the range 110–580 K up to 70 MPa, including the anomalous critical region, is presented. This correlation of the over 800 data points is estimated to be accurate within ±7.5%.Nomenclature a _n, b_ij, b_n, c_n Parameters of regression model - C Euler's constant (=1.781) - P Pressure, MPa (kPa) - P _cr Critical pressure, MPa - Q ₁ Heat flux per unit length, W · m^–1 - t time, s - T Temperature, K - T _cr Critical temperature, K - T ₀ Equilibrium temperature, K - T _re Reference temperature, K - T _r Reduced temperature = T/T _cr - T _TP Triple-point temperature, K Greek symbols Thermal diffusivity, m² · s^–1 - T _i Temperature corrections, K - T Temperature difference, K - T _w Temperature rise of wire between time t ₁ and time t ₂, K - T ^* Reduced temperature difference (T–T _cr)/T_cr - _corr Thermal conductivity value from correlation, W · m^–1 · K^–1 - _cr Thermal conductivity anomaly, W · m^–1 · K^–1 - _e Excess thermal conductivity, W · m^–1 · K^–1 - ^* Reduced density difference - Thermal conductivity, W^–1 · m^–1 · K^–1, mW · m^–1 · K^–1 - _bg Background thermal conductivity, W · m^–1 · K^–1 - ₀ Zero-density thermal conductivity, W · m^–1 · K^–1 - Density, mol · L^–1 - _cr Critical density, mol · L^–1 - _re Reference density, mol · L^–1 - _r Reduced density Paper presented at the Tenth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 20–23, 1988, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.     

Measurement of the thermal conductivity of molten InSb under microgravity

Thermal conductivity of molten InSb was measured on board the TEXUS-24 sounding rocket by the transient hot-wire method using the originally designed thermal conductivity measurement facility (TCMF). Measurements made through this facility were affected by natural convection on the ground. This natural convection was confirmed to be sufficiently suppressed during a microgravity environment. The thermal conductivity of molten InSb was 15.8 and 18.2 W·m^–1·K^–1 at 830 and 890 K, respectively.     

Knudsen-effect errors with transient line-source measurement in fluids

This paper decribes the Knudsen-effect errors of the transient line-source method used for accurate measurements of the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of fluids. The analysis demonstrates that the instrument can be used with a good accuracy (>0.5%) to lower densities than previously thought. The principal errors are illustrated by measurements on propane in the temperature range 250–300 K at densities less than 9 kg · m^–3.     

Thermal conductivity and heat capacity per unit volume of poly(methyl methacrylate) under high pressure

The thermal conductivity and heat capacity per unit volume of poly(methyl methacrylate) (25 and 350 kg · mol^– in molecular weight) have been measured in the temperature range 155–358 K at pressures up to 2 GPa using the transient hot-wire method. The bulk modulus has been measured up to 1.0 GPa at 294 K and yielded a constant valueg = 3.4 ± 0.3 for the Bridgman parameter. No dependence on molecular weight could be detected in the properties we measured.     

Thermal conductivity of sulfur hexafluoride

This paper reports new measurements of the thermal conductivity of sulfur hexafluoride at the nominal temperature of 27.5°C as a function of density in the range up to 200 kg · m^–3. The measurements were performed in a transient, hot-wire instrument. When combined with earlier measurements of the viscosity of the gas, they allow us to calculate the rather large contribution stemming from the internal degrees of freedom. The present measurements compare well with those in the literature. All of them suggest that the excess thermal conductivity is a unique function of density in the present range of states. An empirical correlation of our measurements can serve users in the ranges 0 < t< 100°C and 0 < < 200 kg · m^–3.     

Comparison of thermal conductivity data for partially stabilized zirconia with values derived from thermal diffusivity results

The thermal conductivity of partially stabilized zirconia was measured over the temperature range 320–1273 K using the radial heat flow method. The data have an absolute uncertainty of about ±2% and repeat measurements showed no evidence of changes in the thermal conductivity at high temperatures. This also was true for the thermal diffusivity data, which were obtained in vacuum over the temperature range 300–1473 K. Both sets of thermal conductivity data pass through minima at high temperatures. Quantitative differences were observed in the temperatures and thermal conductivities of the two minima. The results were analyzed by assuming parallel conduction by phonons and photons, and the phonon component was identified by fitting lower-temperature data. Extrapolating this curve allowed identification of the photon contribution to the thermal conductivity at high temperatures. The photon contribution approached a T ³ function and was larger in the thermal conductivity specimens. The difference in the photon contributions correlates with changes in the optical properties of the samples produced during the high temperature measurments.