Measurement of the Thermal Conductivity and Diffusivity of Steel and Glass Using Transient Methods

Abstract The thermal properties of steel are measured using the Dynamic Plane Source (DPS) and Transient Plane Source (TPS) methods, while those of silicate glass are measured using the Step Wise Transient (SWT), Extended DPS (EDPS), and TPS methods. The evaluation of the SWT, DPS, and EDPS measurements is improved by the use of the Finite Element Method (FEM). Comparison of the measurement results shows that the TPS results differ from the others by up to 4 %, indicating that the materials are slightly anisotropic. These differences can be explained by the fact that the thermal conductivity of glass is higher in the radial direction than in the axial direction. This is consistent with the idea that molecular chains are preferentially oriented in the radial direction as a result of mechanical deformation during the manufacturing process. However, the opposite is true for steel, where the crystals are preferentially oriented in the axial direction. After applying the anisotropic model of the TPS method, the relative differences between the results of the methods decrease to − 0.4 % for glass and 0.2 % for steel. These small differences can be attributed to measurement errors.