A new simple device to estimate thermophysical properties of insulating materials

The method described here is to measure thermal conductivity of super insulating materials. The principle is based on a simple transient experiment and a single temperature measurement, The main idea is to control the heat flux diffusion in the sample by the adjunction of a semi infinite highly conductive medium. An analytical 3D model for transient heat transfer was developed. The resolution of the inverse problem enables the thermophysical properties of insulating materials to be identified. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.