Thermal conductivity of AZ91 magnesium integral foams measured by the Transient Plane Source method

The thermal conductivity of a collection of magnesium integral foams has been measured by using the Transient Plane Source (TPS) method. The results have shown a power-trend dependency with bulk density as the existing models predict. Additionally, micro-computed tomography (mu CT) studies have been carried out on selected samples whose thermal conductivity values slightly deviate from the fitted curve to inspect the density distribution. Differences have been explained in terms of the local average density obtained by mu CT in the volume covered by the heat flux. These results have revealed the high accuracy of the TPS method when it is combined with micro-tomographic techniques. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.