Thermal diffusivity measurements of foil-shaped materials by vectorial analysis using an AC calorimeter

Measurements of thermal diffusivity of foil-shaped materials have been carried out using a photoirradiation-type AC calorimeter at room temperature. In this method the frequency effect, which is caused by heat loss from the sample to the environment, is readily detected in measurements of both amplitude and phase components of the AC temperature signal, Even though the chopping frequency is appropriate, the two diffusivities calculated from these two components differ from each other, Moreover, the difference between the two values increases when the chopping frequency increases. Simple vectorial calculation with the two components one from the amplitude and the other from the phase- permits the frequency ellect to be determined. The calculated result is the geometric average of the two diffusivities. This analytic method was tested with diamond film and SUS-304 foil. From these we confirmed that the vectorial analytic method gives similar diffusivity values for different frequencies indicating its reliability.Paper presented at the Twelfth Symposium on TherrmophysicaI Properties, June 19–24, 1994, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.