
THERMAL
CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal Conductivity of Non-Isotropic Materials
To properly evaluate the amount of thermal energy transferred through a material an evaluation of its’ the thermal conductivity (k) is required. This task becomes challenging when the material is non-homogeneous and non-isotropic (see below).

All too often thermal conductivity is evaluated in a laboratory using extremely small samples which not fully capable of capturing the thermal conductivity variation within a non-homogeneous material, such as those typically found in composite materials.

Thermal conductivity determinations of known homogeneous materials are periodically performed as a reference check and found to be within 2 % of the published data.
The current test chamber is 3” x 3” and capable of handling materials up to 0.5 “ thick.
