Simple measurement of thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity using inverse solution for one-dimensional heat conduction

A new method is proposed for measuring thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity simultaneously using the inverse solution for one-dimensional unsteady heat conduction. Unlike previous method proposed by authors, the new procedure does not require the temperature measurement for a long time duration after the temperature starts changing at a sensor position; and then a selection of time duration can be chosen such that the measured temperature change becomes large enough to ensure a required accuracy for the estimated values of thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity. The measurement is usually completed within 3 min until the temperature rise at the thermocouple position reaches a certain temperature level, for example 1% of an error level. This method has the additional advantage of being independent of the surface condition, except for the requirement of two or three sensing positions in the material. The accuracy of the estimated values is also similar to the error level of the sensor at these positions.