Thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat, namely as the thermal properties, are the three most important physical properties of a material that are needed for heat transfer calculations. They are essential in thermal shock parameters determination or in calculations of heat dissipation factors in furnaces and kilns. Thermal conductivity is an important parameter in problems involving steady state heat transfer, while the thermal diffusivity is important in non-steady heat transfer calculations. The specific heat is also a decisive property of ceramic materials in high temperature applications, and it is associated with heat consumption during the heating process. Normally these properties are determined separately by individual techniques and apparatus. Nowadays, several different techniques for the determination of the thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity may be found in the literature. Recently, transient techniques have become the preferable way for measuring thermal properties of materials. In this work it is presented a description as well as a critical analysis of one experimental technique employed worldwide for thermal properties measurements of ceramic materials: the hot wire technique. With this technique it is possible to determine simultaneously from the same temperature transient the three thermal properties. Numerical results are also presented.
transient techniques; thermal properties; thermal conductivity; thermal diffusivity; specific heat; hot wire technique
