Measuring the Thermal Diffusivity in a Student Laboratory

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 engi-neering 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 tem-perature data from two different positions in the specimen, measured by two thermocouples connected to a temperature logger.