The paper presents the adaptation of the modified pulse method for investigating temperature characteristics of thermal diffusivity in the vicinity of the second-order phase transition points. The principle of the adaptation consists in the modified in relation to the original method, development of the characteristics of temperature changes between boundary surfaces of a flat-parallel specimen after the laser shot onto its front surface. The application of this adaptation was illustrated with investigation into thermal diffusivity of nickel (99.9% wt) in the temperature range of 20-380◦C. In all cases the measurement error was less than 3%, and the averaging interval for the measured values of thermal diffusivity was not greater than 1.2 K.

The Low Temperature Joining Technique (LTJT) using silver compounds enables to significantly increase the thermal conductivity between joined elements, which is much higher than for soldered joints. However, it also makes difficult to measure the thermal conductivity of the joint. The Laser Flash Analysis (LFA) is a non-intrusive method of measuring the temperature rise of one surface of a specimen after excitation with a laser pulse of its other surface. The main limitation of the LFA method is its standard computer software, which assumes the dimensions of a bonded component to be similar to those of the substrate, because it uses the standard Parker’s formula dedicated for one-dimensional heat flow. In the paper a special design of measured specimen was proposed, consisting of two copper plates of different size joined with the sintered silver layer. It was shown that heat properties of these specimens can also be measured after modifying the LFA method. The authors adapted these specimens by masking the false heat signal sourced from the uncovered plate area. Another adaptation was introducing a correcting factor of the heat travel distance, which was calculated with heat-flow simulations and placed into the Parker’s formula. The heat-flow simulated data were compared with the real LFA measurement results, which enabled estimation of the joint properties, e.g. its porosity.

A novel method for thermal diffusivity evolution of thin-film materials with pulsed Gaussian beam and infrared video is reported. Compared with common pulse methods performed in specialized labs, the proposed method implements a rapid on-line measurement without producing the off-centre detection error. Through mathematical deduction of the original heat conduction model, it is discovered that the area s, which is encircled by the maximum temperature curve rTMAX(θ), increases linearly over elapsed time. The thermal diffusivity is acquired from the growth rate of the area s. In this study, the off-centre detection error is avoided by performing the distance regularized level set evolution formulation. The area s was extracted from the binary images of temperature variation rate, without inducing errors from determination of the heat source centre. Thermal diffusivities of three materials, 304 stainless steel, titanium, and zirconium have been measured with the established on-line detection system, and the measurement errors are: −2.26%, −1.07%, and 1.61% respectively.

Results of the ab initio molecular dynamics calculations of silicon crystals are presented by means of analysis of the velocity autocorrelation function and determination of mean phonon relaxation time. The mean phonon relaxation time is crucial for prediction of the phonon-associated coefficient of thermal conductivity of materials. A clear correlation between the velocity autocorrelation function relaxation time and the coefficient of thermal diffusivity has been found. The analysis of the results obtained has indicated a decrease of the velocity autocorrelation function relaxation time t with increase of temperature. The method proposed may be used to estimate the coefficient of ther-mal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of the materials based on silicon and of other wide-bandgap semiconductors. The correlation between kinetic energy fluctuations and relaxation time of the velocity autocorrelation function has been calculated with the relatively high coefficient of determination R2 = 0.9396. The correlation obtained and the corresponding approach substantiate the use of kinetic energy fluctuations for the calculation of values related to heat conductivity in silicon-based semiconductors (coefficients of thermal conductivity and diffusivity).

In this study, a new laser flash system was proposed for the determination of the thermal conductivity of brown coal, hard coal and anthracite. The main objective of the investigation was to determine the effect of coal rank, composition, physical structure and temperature on thermal conductivity. The solid fuels tested were medium conductors of heat whose determined thermal conductivities were in the range of 0.09 to 0.23 W/(m K) at room temperature. The thermal conductivity of the solid fuels tested typically increased with the rank of coal and the measurement temperature. The results of this study show that the physical structure of solid fuels and temperature have a dominant effect on the fuels' thermal conductivity.

Transient heat transfer is studied and compared in two plane-parallel composite walls and one EPIDIAN 53 epoxy resin wall acting as a matrix for both composites. The first of the two walls is made of carbon-epoxy composite; the other wall is made of glass-epoxy composite, both with comparable thickness of about 1 mm and the same number of carbon and glass fabric layers (four layers). The study was conducted for temperatures in the range of 20-120 °C. The results of the study of thermal diffusivity which characterizes the material as a heat conductor under transient conditions have a preliminary character. Three series of tests were conducted for each wall. Each series took about 24 h. The results from the three series were approximated using linear functions and were found between (0.7-1.35) x 10-7m2/s. In the whole range of temperature variation, the thermal diffusivity values for carbon-epoxy composite are from 1.2 to 1.5 times higher than those for the other two materials with nearly the same thermal diffusivity characteristics.

The paper presents the application of similarity theory to investigations of transient heat transfer in materials with complex structure. It describes the theoretical-experimental method for identification and design of the structure of two-component composite walls based on the research of the thermal diffusivity for the composite and its matrix separately. The thermal diffusivity was measured by means of the modified flash method. The method was tested on two samples of double-layer ‘epoxy resin – polyamide’. All the investigated samples had the same diameter of 12 mm and thickness ranging from 1.39–2.60 mm and their equivalent value of thermal diffusivity ranging from (1.21–1.98)×10-7m2/s. Testing the method and research on carbon/epoxy composites was carried out at temperatures close to room temperature.

In recent years, great emphasis has been placed on the introduction of energy-saving solutions to the construction sector. Building envelopes made of concrete with a specially selected composition give great opportunities in this regard. As part of a wide-ranging experiment, the authors undertook to diagnose how much thermal conductivity, volumetric specific heat and thermal diffusivity can be improved with an aerating admixture and different types of aggregates. Three groups of composites were tested: B1 – on stone aggregate, B2 – on expanded clay aggregate, B3 – on sintered fly ash aggregate. Each of the groups was divided into 4 formulations made without an aerating admixture and with its increasingly higher content of 0.8, 1.1, 1.4% in relation to the weight of cement. The thermal parameters were measured on the top (T) and bottom (B) surfaces of 36 rectangular samples (3 samples from each of the 12 mixtures) with the ISOMET 2104 apparatus. Diagnostic tests concerning the influence of measurement conditions were carried out on dry and water-saturated samples. It has been proven that for each composite and in both conditions, the values of thermal parameters determined on the lower surfaces will not correctly describe the properties of the real structure present in the main volume of the element. Only measurements carried out on surfaces with a structure corresponding to the interior of the element provide adequate data that can be used in decision-making processes and in numerical simulations to assess the real thermal qualities of building envelopes.

The resistivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal diffusivity were determined for Bi2Te3 + Ag2Te composite mixtures. Subsequent measurements were carried out in the temperature range from 20 to 270°C, and for compositions from pure Bi2Te3 to xAg2Te = 0.65 selected along the pseudo-binary section of Ag-Bi-Te ternary system. It was found that conductivity vs. temperature dependence shows visible jump between 140 and 150°C in samples with highest Ag2Te content, which is due to monoclinic => cubic Ag2Te phase transformation. Measured Seebeck coefficient is negative for all samples indicating they are n-type semiconductors. Evaluated power factor is of the order 1.52·10–3 and it decreases with increasing Ag2Te content (at. %). Recalculated thermal conductivity is of the order of unity in W/(m K), and is decreasing with Ag2Te addition. Finally, evaluated Figure of Merit is 0.43 at 100°C and decreases with temperature rise.

Measurements of thermal diffusivity, heat capacity and thermal expansion of hot work tool steel 32CrMoV12-28 have been carried out in the temperature range from room temperature (RT) to 1000℃. 32CrMoV12-28 steel has been tested for military applications as steel for gun barrels. The thermophysical properties of this steel can be used as input data for numerical simulations of heat transfer in gun barrels. Both the LFA 427 laser flash apparatus in the RT1000℃ temperature range and the LFA 467 light flash apparatus in the RT500℃ temperature range were used for thermal diffusivity tests. Specific heat capacity was investigated in the range RT1000℃. The specific heat was determined by two methods, i.e. the classical method, the so-called continuous-scanning method and the stepwise-scanning method according to EN ISO 11357-4. The paper compares both methods and assesses their suitability for testing the specific heat capacity of barrel steels. Thermal expansion was investigated in the range RT1000℃. Inconel 600 was selected as the reference material during the thermal diffusivity test using LFA 467. Light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Vickers microhardness measurements were performed to detect changes in the microstructure before and after thermo-physical measurements. We compared the results of measurements of the thermophysical properties of 32CrMoV12-28 steel with the results of our tests for other barrel steels with medium carbon content, i.e. X37CrMoV5-1 (1.2343), 38HMJ (1.8509) and 30HN2MFA. The comparison was made in terms of shifting the effect of material shrinkage towards higher temperatures.