Proposal of novel measurement method for thermal diffusivity from infrared thermal movie

Abstract A brand new thermal diffusivity measurement method was developed. In this new noncontact and absolute measurement method, thermal diffusivity was measured from infrared movie data. The model of one-dimensional thermal conduction was constructed by taking into account the thermal flow other than one-dimensional thermal conduction in the sample. On the basis of this thermal conduction model, the analytical equation for calculating thermal diffusivity was derived. A single-crystal sapphire plate was used as a test specimen for the new method. The test specimen was arranged to cause one-dimensional heat conduction. Infrared movies were taken by using an infrared camera at room temperature. Then, thermal diffusivity was numerically calculated from the acquired movie data using the analytical equation. It was experimentally demonstrated that thermal diffusivity was measured with an accuracy of around 10% error, from an infrared movie of a single-crystal sapphire sample.