TITLE:
Measuring the Thermal Diffusivity in a Student Laboratory
AUTHORS:
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna
KEYWORDS:
Thermal Diffusivity; Thermal Conductivity; Aluminium
JOURNAL NAME:
Engineering,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
24,
2012
ABSTRACT: The paper describes a method for measuring the thermal diffusivity of materials having a high thermal conductivity. The apparatus is rather simple and low-cost, being therefore suitable in a laboratory for undergraduate students of engineering schools, where several set-ups are often required. A recurrence numerical approach solves the thermal field in the specimen, which is depending on the thermal diffusivity of its material. The numerical method requires the temperature data from two different positions in the specimen, measured by two thermocouples connected to a temperature logger.