Thermal conductivity measurement of fused silica glass

Abstract

The reproducibility of thermal conductivity measurements on fused silica glass by various investigators using different techniques suggests its suitability as a standard for such measurements. Our laboratory measurements with the needle probe technique on chip samples of silica glass saturated with water gave a value of 3.287 ± 0.154 (S.D.) mcal/cm s °C (n = 21) at 25 °C, which is within about 1% of the previously determined values and the value given by the manufacturer for this material. The good agreement indicates that the flat-plate steady-state and needle probe transient methods give the same value for this material, and that the water-saturated chip technique is an accurate method to measure thermal conductivity of isotropic samples.