Thermal Effusivity of Vegetable Oils Obtained by a Photothermal Technique

Thermal properties of several vegetable oils such as soy, corn, and avocado commercial oils were obtained by using a photopyroelectric technique. The inverse photopyroelectric configuration was used in order to obtain the thermal effusivity of the oil samples. The theoretical equation for the photopyroelectric signal in this configuration, as a function of the incident light modulation frequency, was fitted to the experimental data in order to obtain the thermal effusivity of these samples. The obtained results are in good agreement with the thermal effusivity reported for other vegetable oils. All measurements were done at room temperature.     

Thermal Characterization, Using the Photopyroelectric Technique, of Liquids Used in the Automobile Industry

Thermal properties of liquids used in the automobile industry such as engine oil, antifreeze, and a liquid for windshield wipers were obtained using the photopyroelectric (PPE) technique. The inverse PPE configuration was used in order to obtain the thermal effusivity of the liquid samples. The theoretical equation for the PPE signal in this configuration, as a function of the incident light modulation frequency, was fitted to the experimental data in order to obtain the thermal effusivity of these samples. Also, the back PPE configuration was used to obtain the thermal diffusivity of these liquids; this thermal parameter was obtained by fitting the theoretical equation for this configuration, as a function of the sample thickness (called the thermal wave resonator cavity), to the experimental data. All measurements were done at room temperature. A complete thermal characterization of these liquids used in the automobile industry was achieved by the relationship between the obtained thermal diffusivities and thermal effusivities with their thermal conductivities and volumetric heat capacities. The obtained results are compared with the thermal properties of similar liquids.     

Thermal Diffusivity Measurements in Edible Oils using Transient Thermal Lens

Time resolved thermal lens (TL) spectrometry is applied to the study of the thermal diffusivity of edible oils such as olive, and refined and thermally treated avocado oils. A two laser mismatched-mode experimental configuration was used, with a He–Ne laser as a probe beam and an Ar⁺ laser as the excitation one. The characteristic time constant of the transient thermal lens was obtained by fitting the experimental data to the theoretical expression for a transient thermal lens. The results showed that virgin olive oil has a higher thermal diffusivity than for refined and thermally treated avocado oils. This measured thermal property may contribute to a better understanding of the quality of edible oils, which is very important in the food industry. The thermal diffusivity results for virgin olive oil, obtained from this technique, agree with those reported in the literature.Paper presented at the Seventeenth European Conference on Thermophysical Properties, September 5-8, 2005, Bratislava, Slovak Republic.     

Thermal Characterization of Nanofluids with Different Solvents

Thermal lens spectrometry (TLS) and photopyroelectric (PPE) techniques were used to obtain the thermal diffusivity and effusivity of different nanofluid samples. The thermal effusivity of these samples was obtained by the PPE technique in a front detection configuration. In the case of the determination of the thermal diffusivity, TLS was used for the different solvents in the presence of gold nanoparticles (nanofluids). In this technique, an Ar⁺ laser and intensity stabilized He–Ne laser were used as the heating source and probe beam, respectively. The experimental results showed that thermal diffusivity values of the studied solvents (water, ethanol, and ethylene glycol) were enhanced by the presence of gold nanoparticles. Comparisons with literature values show good agreement with pure solvents. These techniques are applicable for all kind of liquid samples, including semitransparent ones.     

Thermal Wave Resonator Cavity Applied to the Study of the Thermal Diffusivity of Coffee Infusions

Among the photothermal methods, the photopyroelectric technique, in its several experimental configurations, has been extensively used to measure the thermal properties of liquids, mainly the thermal effusivity and diffusivity. In this paper, the use of the so-called thermal wave resonator cavity method, in the cavity-length-scan mode, to measure the thermal diffusivity of commercial coffee infusions with samples at different concentrations and degrees of degradation induced by heating cycles is reported. A linear relationship between the logarithm of the pyroelectric signal amplitude and the sample thickness was observed, in agreement with the basic theory for the experimental configuration used here, from which the thermal diffusivity values of the samples were obtained. The thermal diffusivity was found to be almost independent of the coffee concentration in water but that this parameter is sensitive to sample modifications induced by degradation. This work represents another step to demonstrate the capability of the used method for characterization of the thermal properties of liquids.     

Thermal Properties of Biodiesel and Their Corresponding Precursor Vegetable Oils Obtained by Photopyroelectric Methodology

The photopyroelectric technique (PPE) was used for thermal characterization of biodiesel and their corresponding precursor vegetable oils. Different configurations of PPE were applied in these studies. The standard and inverse configurations allowed the determination of the thermal diffusivity (??) and thermal effusivity (e), respectively. From these two parameters the thermal conductivity was calculated. Measurements were performed for reference samples (water and ethylene glycol), biodiesel, and some corresponding precursor vegetable oils. The experiments showed good reproducibility, with uncertainties around 1 % to 2 % for all the samples. Lower values for both ?? and e of the biodiesel when compared to their corresponding precursor vegetable oils were observed, indicating that these thermophysical properties were sensitive to structural changes during the transesterification process.     

New Photopyroelectric Technique for Precise Measurements of the Thermal Effusivity of Transparent Liquids

A new photopyroelectric methodology for thermal effusivity measurements in transparent liquids is presented. The new methodology involves the thermally thick limit of the pyroelectric signal in the standard front-surface configuration. A signal normalization procedure, which avoids the conventional requirement for transfer function determination, is implemented. The thermal effusivity of five liquids was measured by means of this technique, and very good agreement was found with corresponding values reported in the literature.     

Thermal Properties of Jojoba Oil Between $$20\,{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}$$ and $$45\,{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}$$45∘C

Vegetable oils have been widely studied as biofuel candidates. Among these oils, jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) oil has attracted interest because it is composed almost entirely of wax esters that are liquid at room temperature. Consequently, it is widely used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. To date, research on S. chinensis oil has focused on to its use as a fuel and its thermal stability, and information about its thermal properties is scarce. In the present study, the thermal effusivity and conductivity of jojoba oil between \(20\,{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}\) and \(45\,{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}\) were obtained using the inverse photopyroelectric and hot-ball techniques. The feasibility of an inverse photopyroelectric method and a hot-ball technique to monitor the thermal conductivity, and the thermal effusivity of the S. chinensis is demonstrated. The thermal effusivity decreased from 538 \(\hbox {W}\cdot \,\hbox {s}^{1/2}\cdot \,\hbox {m}^{-2}\cdot \,\hbox {K}^{-1}\) to 378 \(\hbox {W}\cdot \,\hbox {s}^{1/2}\cdot \,\hbox {m}^{-2}\cdot \,\hbox {K}^{-1}\) as the temperature increased, whereas the thermal conductivity remained the same over the temperature range investigated in this study. The obtained results provide insight into the thermal properties of S. chinensis oil between \(20\,{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}\) and \(45\,{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}\).     

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.     

Photothermal Techniques Applied to the Thermal Characterization of l–Cysteine Nanofluids

Thermal-diffusivity (D) and thermal-effusivity (e) measurements were carried out in l-cysteine nanoliquids l-cysteine in combination with Au nanoparticles and protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) nanofluid) by using thermal lens spectrometry (TLS) and photopyroelectric (PPE) techniques. The TLS technique was used in the two mismatched mode experimental configuration to obtain the thermal-diffusivity of the samples. On the other hand, the sample thermal effusivity (e) was obtained by using the PPE technique where the temperature variation of a sample, exposed to modulated radiation, is measured with a pyrolectric sensor. From the obtained thermal-diffusivity and thermal-effusivity values, the thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity of the sample were calculated. The obtained thermal parameters were compared with the thermal parameters of water. The results of this study could be applied to the detection of tumors by using the l-cysteine in combination with Au nanoparticles and PpIX nanofluid, called conjugated in this study.     

Photothermal Techniques for Thermal Characterization of Linear Alcohols

Photothermal techniques were used for the thermal characterization of linear alcohols. This was carried out by measuring the thermal diffusivity (by means of a photopyroelectric technique) and thermal effusivity (by means of a photoacoustic technique) of ten linear alcohols, from methanol to 1-decanol. The thermal conductivity and specific heat for these substances were obtained by means of their relations with the two previous thermal properties, by using the values reported for the densities of the alcohols. The values of thermal effusivity showed a decreasing behavior with the increase in length of the linear molecule, and the values of thermal diffusivity, on the other hand, showed a similar behavior but only up to 1-pentanol, from which these values began to increase; this latter behavior was also observed, although to a lesser extent, for thermal conductivities. This peculiar behavior for thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivities is attributed to the influence of the hydroxyl group, which is strong for low molecular weight alcohols, but it diminishes as the size of alcohol’s molecule increases.     

Analysis of Maize Seed Germs by Photoacoustic Microscopy and Photopyroelectric Technique

A knowledge about thermal parameters of structural components of maize seed is of great relevance in the seed technology practice. The objective of the present study was to determine the thermal effusivity of germs of maize (Zea mays L.) of different genotypes by means of the photopyroelectric technique (PPE) in the inverse configuration and obtaining the thermal imaging of these samples by photoacoustic microscopy (PAM). Germs from crystalline maize (white pigment), semi-crystalline maize (yellow pigment), and floury maize (blue pigment) were used in this investigation. The results show differences between germs of maize seeds mainly in the values of their thermal effusivities. The thermal images showed minimum inhomogeneity of these seed germs. Characterizations of thermal parameters in seeds are important in agriculture and food production and could be particularly useful to define their quality and determine their utility. PPE and PAM can be considered as potential diagnostic tools for the characterization of agriculture seeds.     

Thermal Images of Small Agricultural Seeds Obtained by Photoacoustic and Photopyroelectric Microscopies

Photoacoustic (PA) and photopyroelectric microscopies were used to obtain photothermal images of small agricultural seeds. In the photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) technique, a tightly closed PA cell was used with an electret microphone as the sensor. In photopyroelectric microscopy (PPEM), the seeds were placed in contact with a pyroelectric (PE) sensor. From the experimental data, it was possible to obtain thermal images of the scanned samples from the amplitude and phase signals. In the present research, thermal images of small agricultural seeds were obtained by both techniques and compared. The experimental results show that the photothermal images obtained by PAM have better resolution than those obtained by PPEM. PAM images using the amplitude signal appear to be more sensitive to detect seed structures as was observed in the seed thermal images obtained in this study.     

Monitoring the Thermal Parameters of Different Edible Oils by Using Thermal Lens Spectrometry

Several vegetable edible oils (sunflower, canola, soya, and corn) were used to study the thermal diffusivity of edible oils. Thermal lens spectrometry (TLS) was applied to measure the thermal properties. The results showed that the obtained thermal diffusivities with this technique have good agreement when compared with literature values. In this technique an Ar⁺ laser and intensity stabilized He–Ne laser were used as the heating source and probe beam, respectively. These studies may contribute to a better understanding of the physical properties of edible oils and the quality of these important foodstuffs.     

Investigating Thermal Parameters of PVDF Sensor in the Front Pyroelectric Configuration

A metalized PVDF pyroelectric (PE) sensor was used as an optically opaque sensor and in a thermally thick regime for both sensor and sample, instead of a very thick sensor in the conventional front PE configuration. From the frequency dependence measurements, the normalized amplitude and phase signal were independently analyzed to obtain the thermal effusivity of the sensor. The differential normalized amplitude measured with water as a substrate was analyzed to determine the sensor thermal diffusivity. The PVDF thermal diffusivity and thermal effusivity agree with literature values. Then, from the known thermal parameters of the sensor, the thermal effusivity of a standard liquid sample, glycerol, and other liquids were obtained by the similar procedure.     

Metrological Aspects of Auto-normalized Front Photopyroelectric Method to Measure Thermal Effusivity in Liquids

The metrological aspects related to the sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio of the auto-normalized front pyroelectric technique for the measurement of thermal effusivity in liquids are investigated. The effect of the thermally thick approximation in the theoretical expressions for the photopyroelectric signal and its effect on the sensitivity of the technique are discussed. It is shown that the sensitivity of the technique decreases with frequency. In contrast, the signal-to-noise ratio increases for higher frequencies.     

Thermal properties across threshold compositions in Ge-As-Se glasses

The Ge-As-Se chalcogenide glasses is an interesting system to test the validity of different constraint models proposed for these materials, in view of the fact that this system has a wide glass forming range which makes it possible to measure composition dependent properties over ranges covering most predicted thresholds. We have measured the thermal parameters—thermal diffusivity, thermal effusivity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity—of Ge-As-Se glasses covering composition range in which thresholds in physical properties have been predicted for covalent glasses employing a modified photopyroelectric technique. Our results show that this system exhibits a minimum in heat capacity at an average coordination number Z = 2.4 corresponding to a 3-D network as per the Phillips-Thorpe model, whereas thermal conductivity exhibits a threshold maximum at Z = 2.67 which is in agreement with the Tanaka model.     

Photothermal Techniques Applied to the Thermal and Optical Characterization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Curcuma longa</Emphasis>

In recent years, has been reported an increasing interest to study vegetables and fruits in order to know their benefits to prevent different types of health problems. Curcuma longa has a great potential to prevent diseases as different types of cancer. In the present study, C. longa samples, of different trademarks, were optically and thermally characterized by using photoacoustic spectroscopy and photopyroelectric techniques, obtaining their optical absorption spectra, optical absorption length spectra, the thermal diffusivity, effusivity, conductivity and heat capacity per unit volume, observing optical absorptions corresponding to antioxidant elements, reported such as beneficial for health. These properties also could be important in the food industry for the commercialization of functional foods.     

Thermal-Diffusivity Measurements of Mexican Citrus Essential Oils Using Photoacoustic Methodology in the Transmission Configuration

Photoacoustic methodology in the transmission configuration (PMTC) was used to study the thermophysical properties and their relation with the composition in Mexican citrus essential oils providing the viability of using photothermal techniques for quality control and for authentication of oils and their adulteration. Linear relations for the amplitude (on a semi-log scale) and phase, as functions of the sample’s thickness, for the PMTC was obtained through a theoretical model fit to the experimental data for thermal-diffusivity measurements in Mexican orange, pink grapefruit, mandarin, lime type A, centrifuged essential oils, and Mexican distilled lime essential oil. Gas chromatography for distilled lime essential oil and centrifuged lime essential oil type A is reported to complement the study. Experimental results showed close thermal-diffusivity values between Mexican citrus essential oils obtained by centrifugation, but a significant difference of this physical property for distilled lime oil and the corresponding value obtained by centrifugation, which is due to their different chemical compositions involved with the extraction processes.     

Combined FPPE–PTR Calorimetry Involving TWRC Technique II. Experimental: Application to Thermal Effusivity Measurements of Solids

Photopyroelectric calorimetry in the front detection configuration (FPPE) and photothermal radiometry (PTR) were simultaneously used, together with the thermal-wave resonator cavity method (TWRC), in order to investigate the thermal effusivity of solids inserted as backing layers in a detection cell. A new combined FPPE–PTR–TWRC setup was designed. It was demonstrated experimentally that the PTR technique, combined with the TWRC method, is able to provide calorimetric information about the third layer of a detection cell. Applications on solids with different values of the thermal effusivity (starting from metals, down to thermal isolators) are presented. The values of the thermal effusivity obtained with the PTR technique are similar to those obtained with the PPE technique, and in agreement with literature values; the two methods reciprocally support each other. The accuracy of both methods is higher when the values of the thermal effusivity of the backing layer and coupling fluid are close.