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Measuring thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat capacity
Understanding thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity is fundamental for comprehending and optimizing heat transfer processes in a variety of applications, from industrial manufacturing to high-tech devices and renewable energy production. Specific heat capacity describes a material's ability to store energy. These measurements help ensure that materials and systems operate efficiently, safely, and energy-efficiently.
Applications
- Knowledge of the thermal conductivity of materials or components is crucial in applications involving varying or high temperatures. This knowledge is necessary to ensure the functionality of a product or a manufacturing process.
- In safety-critical applications, such as nuclear power plants, chemical manufacturing, or reliable batteries, understanding how heat spreads through materials is important to prevent accidents and overheating.
- In scientific research, measurements of these thermal properties are used to understand and model heat transfer processes at the macro and micro level, which is vital for the development of new technologies and materials.
- Generating data for thermodynamic calculations
Measurement Methods
Swerim primarily uses the methods below to determine the thermal conductivity of materials and DSC for calculation of thermal conductivity:
- Laser Flash
- Hot Disk
- Hot Wire
- Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
The choice of method depends on the temperature range, sample sizes, simplicity of sample preparation, and whether the test materials are electrically conductive or not.
With these methods, we investigate and test, for example, fiber insulation materials, metals, polymers, rubber, oil, wood, concrete, glass, ceramics, refractory materials, powders, and molding materials, as well as liquids. For instance, we can determine the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) between two solid layers or between a substrate and a coating such as polymer coatings or ceramic coatings on metals.
