Thermal Conductivity

Definition: The thermal conductivity of a material can be defined as the rate of heat transfer through a unit
thickness of the material per unit area per unit temperature difference.
The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of the ability of the material to conduct heat. A high value
for thermal conductivity indicates that the material is a good heat conductor, and a low value indicates that
the material is a poor heat conductor or insulator.
Range: The range of thermal conductivity of various materials at room temperature is as shown below,

thermal conductivity of a substance is normally highest in the solid phase and lowest in the gas phase. The
thermal conductivities of liquids usually lie between those of solids and gases.

Factors influencing thermal conductivity are: -

 Temperature
 Density
 Grain Size and porosity
 Crystal structure
The variation of the thermal conductivity of various solids, liquids, and gases with temperature is as shown
below,
Thermal Conductivity Measurement: The available and commercialized methods to measure thermal
conductivity can be classified into steady-state conditions methods (guarded hot plate, heat flowmeter) and
transient conditions methods (transient plane source, transient hot wire, laser flash apparatus, modulated
DSC, 3ω method, thermocouple method).
In steady state measurements a steady state heat flow is used whereas in transient state pulsating or periodic heat
flow is used.

Thermal conductivity methods classification,

Advantages and disadvantages of thermal conductivity measurements by steady state and transient methods
are as shown below,

Thermal conductivity and temperature measurement range for steady state methods and transient methods is
as shown below,

Amongst them modulated DSC and 3ω-method are least used.