Measurement of thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and heat capacity of highly porous building materials using transient plane source technique

This paper presents both experimental and theoretical works concerning evaluation of the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and heat capacity of wood composites. Moreover, the aim of this study is to show that the transient plane source technique originally used for measuring thermal properties of isotropic materials can be spread worthy of heat capacity, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurements of highly porous materials. Measurements of the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and heat capacity have been performed at room temperature (20 +/- 0.5 degreesC) and normal pressure. An attempt has been made to predict the thermal diffusivity of wood composites from the predicted values of thermal conductivity using a Verma et al's model based on Ohms law and the calculated values of heat capacity using the enthalpy concept. The predicted values by the proposed model are compared with the values of the thermal diffusivity measured using the TPS method. A comparison shows a good agreement. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.