Thermal diffusivity measurement of stainless steel by periodic heating technique

The use of a device based on the Peltier effect can provide heat source and sink suitable for diffusivity measurements. By performing a one-side test it is possible to estimate the diffusivity value, provided that some conditions are met. In a previous work the basic idea and the experimental set up of this method were described. A crucial point is the inversion formula that allows recovering the diffusivity value from the temperature data. The proposed analytical formula works only if the experimental parameters are suitably chosen for the particular sample under test. This paper is focused on the conditions to be met in order to correctly apply that formula. To this end, tests have been performed on a material with known thermal properties