High-sensitivity capacitance method for measuring thermal diffusivity and thermal expansion: Results on aluminum and copper

Thermal diffusivity and thermal expansion in high-conducting solids can be measured by means of a capacitance method, which turns out to be simple, reliable, and accurate and yields the first property with an accuracy of 1% and the second one with an accuracy of 2%. Preliminary results, which are consistent with the literature, have been obtained on pure aluminum (99.999%) and on commercial copper, both at near room temperature.