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Title: A simple differential steady-state method to measure the thermal conductivity of solid bulk materials with high accuracy

Abstract

Accurate measurements of thermal conductivity are of great importance for materials research and development. Steady-state methods determine thermal conductivity directly from the proportionality between heat flow and an applied temperature difference (Fourier Law). Although theoretically simple, in practice, achieving high accuracies with steady-state methods is challenging and requires rather complex experimental setups due to temperature sensor uncertainties and parasitic heat loss. We developed a simple differential steady-state method in which the sample is mounted between an electric heater and a temperature-controlled heat sink. Our method calibrates for parasitic heat losses from the electric heater during the measurement by maintaining a constant heater temperature close to the environmental temperature while varying the heat sink temperature. This enables a large signal-to-noise ratio which permits accurate measurements of samples with small thermal conductance values without an additional heater calibration measurement or sophisticated heater guards to eliminate parasitic heater losses. Additionally, the differential nature of the method largely eliminates the uncertainties of the temperature sensors, permitting measurements with small temperature differences, which is advantageous for samples with high thermal conductance values and/or with strongly temperature-dependent thermal conductivities. In order to accelerate measurements of more than one sample, the proposed method allows for measuring severalmore » samples consecutively at each temperature measurement point without adding significant error. We demonstrate the method by performing thermal conductivity measurements on commercial bulk thermoelectric Bi2Te3 samples in the temperature range of 30–150 °C with an error below 3%.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1385072
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Review of Scientific Instruments
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 85; Journal Issue: 2; Related Information: S3TEC partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (lead); Boston College; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Journal ID: ISSN 0034-6748
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; solar (photovoltaic); solar (thermal); solid state lighting; phonons; thermal conductivity; thermoelectric; defects; mechanical behavior; charge transport; spin dynamics; materials and chemistry by design; optics; synthesis (novel materials); synthesis (self-assembly); synthesis (scalable processing)

Citation Formats

Kraemer, D., and Chen, G. A simple differential steady-state method to measure the thermal conductivity of solid bulk materials with high accuracy. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4865111.
Kraemer, D., & Chen, G. A simple differential steady-state method to measure the thermal conductivity of solid bulk materials with high accuracy. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4865111
Kraemer, D., and Chen, G. Thu . "A simple differential steady-state method to measure the thermal conductivity of solid bulk materials with high accuracy". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4865111. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1385072.
@article{osti_1385072,
title = {A simple differential steady-state method to measure the thermal conductivity of solid bulk materials with high accuracy},
author = {Kraemer, D. and Chen, G.},
abstractNote = {Accurate measurements of thermal conductivity are of great importance for materials research and development. Steady-state methods determine thermal conductivity directly from the proportionality between heat flow and an applied temperature difference (Fourier Law). Although theoretically simple, in practice, achieving high accuracies with steady-state methods is challenging and requires rather complex experimental setups due to temperature sensor uncertainties and parasitic heat loss. We developed a simple differential steady-state method in which the sample is mounted between an electric heater and a temperature-controlled heat sink. Our method calibrates for parasitic heat losses from the electric heater during the measurement by maintaining a constant heater temperature close to the environmental temperature while varying the heat sink temperature. This enables a large signal-to-noise ratio which permits accurate measurements of samples with small thermal conductance values without an additional heater calibration measurement or sophisticated heater guards to eliminate parasitic heater losses. Additionally, the differential nature of the method largely eliminates the uncertainties of the temperature sensors, permitting measurements with small temperature differences, which is advantageous for samples with high thermal conductance values and/or with strongly temperature-dependent thermal conductivities. In order to accelerate measurements of more than one sample, the proposed method allows for measuring several samples consecutively at each temperature measurement point without adding significant error. We demonstrate the method by performing thermal conductivity measurements on commercial bulk thermoelectric Bi2Te3 samples in the temperature range of 30–150 °C with an error below 3%.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4865111},
journal = {Review of Scientific Instruments},
number = 2,
volume = 85,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Thu Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}

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Cited by: 36 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Nanostructured polymer films with metal-like thermal conductivity
journal, April 2019


Thermal Conductivity of Compacted GO-GMZ Bentonite Used as Buffer Material for a High-Level Radioactive Waste Repository
journal, September 2018

  • Chen, Yong-Gui; Liu, Xue-Min; Mu, Xiang
  • Advances in Civil Engineering, Vol. 2018
  • DOI: 10.1155/2018/9530813

Nanostructured Polymer Films with Metal-like Thermal Conductivity
preprint, January 2017