Thermal conductivity measurement of smaller insulation specimens using standard heat flow meter

Thermal conductivity measurement of small insulation specimens is an important necessity during new product development processes or when larger specimens cannot be collected during forensic investigation. The research activities reported in this article examined a new approach for measuring the thermal conductivity of small insulation specimens. Six commercial insulation materials were tested using a standard 300 by 300-mm heat flow meter apparatus with a 150 by 150-mm metering area. The results obtained from these tests were compared with thermal conductivity values of standard size specimens. Subsequently, the experimental results were also critically analyzed using a heat transfer modeling tool HEAT3. The observations presented in this article clearly indicate that the proposed new approach could be applied to measure thermal conductivity of a variety of insulation materials of different dimensions using a standard heat flow meter