MAXIMUM SLOPE METHOD FOR EVALUATING THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY PROBE DATA

A published method determines the thermal conductivity, k, of material without probe calibration using the maximum local slope value of a te mperature response curve monitored by a line heat source probe. We exa mined the applicability and validity of this method. A mathematical he at conduction model was used for theoretical examination and a thermis tor based probe for experimental examination with a computer based dat a acquisition and reduction system. Glycerol (99.5% pure) and agar gel (0.5%) were test materials. The k values estimated by the maximum slo pe method were comparably accurate and less statistically variable com pared to those determined by two widely used data reduction methods, t he time correction and maximum r-square methods.