A custom setup for thermal conductivity measurements

Future detector systems have increasing demands on the performance of their mechanical support structures and cooling systems. Novel materials and cooling technics are developed and continuously improved in order to fulfil these requirements. To quantify the thermal performance of these materials, a custom thermal conductivity measurement setup was developed.The setup consists of two heat flux meter blocks between which the samples are clamped. Each of the blocks has six temperature sensors embedded at equally spaced positions that allow to measure the heat flux through as well as the temperature gradient across the sample. A resistive load on top of the upper block acts as a heat source whereas the bottom block is thermally coupled to a cooling plate which acts as the heat sink. In order to minimize heat exchange between the heat flux blocks and the ambient via convection and radiation, the setup is covered with a radiation shield and measurements are carried out in a vacuum.The contribution will describe the setup in detail, motivate its design aspects and highlight the commissioning and calibration procedure. The analysis method as well as selected results from the currently ongoing measurement campaigns will be presented