Measurement of the in-plane thermal conductivity of single crystals by the parallel thermal conductance technique

The characterization of single crystals often involves working with very small samples because of natural size limitations and the difficulties involved in the synthesis of large single crystals. The measurement of the thermal conductivity of small samples has been a formidable challenge for many years due to the low thermal conductance and the low mechanical strength of the sample. One of the methods developed to address this problem is the Parallel Thermal Conductance (PTC) technique. We have attempted to measure the in-plane thermal conductivity of single crystals using the PTC technique. In this paper we describe the PTC technique and provide results of measurement on standards as well as preliminary measurements on NaxCo2O4 single crystals.