Rapid measurement of thermal conductivity of polymer films

Abstract

A simple and rapid technique to measure the thermal conductivity and resistance has been developed using common laboratory equipment. It has been applied to measure thermal conductivities of polymer films as thin as 12 μm, for which the time required for a single measurement was as short as 3 s. Thermal conductivities measured for polystyrene, (polymethyl metacrylate), and Mylar films are 0.169±0.001, 0.201±0.004, and 0.189±0.004 (Wm−1K−1), respectively. It has been demonstrated that the true conductivity should be calculated after correction for the resistance at zero sample thickness.