Apparatus to measure high-temperature thermal conductivity and thermoelectric power of small specimens

A thermal conductivity apparatus based on the parallel heat-flow technique has been fabricated to measure the thermal conductivity of small specimens. The steady-state method is used to measure samples of 1x1x10 mm(3) dimension in the temperature range of room temperature-700 K. The details of instrument fabrication, the method of calibration, and typical measurements on test samples are described. The apparatus can also be used to measure the Seebeck coefficient in the same temperature range. As an example we report the thermal properties of CrSi2, which is a potential candidate for high-temperature thermoelectric applications. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.