Analysis of Transient Heat Conduction and its Applications

Part 1: The Fundamental Analysis and Applications to Thermal Conductivity and

Thermal Diffusivity Measurements

By Morihiro Yoneda* and Sueo Kawabata, Members, TMSJ

Department of Polymer Chemistry, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606

*Present Address: Department of Clothing Science, Nara Women's University, Nara, 630

Basedon Journalof the TextileMachinerySocietyof Japan, Transactions, Vol.34, No.9, T183-T193(1981-9)

Abstract
A theoreticalanalysisof a transientheat conductionis presentedin a seriesof threepapers to ex-
plain the theoreticalbasis to link the thermal behaviourof fabricswith warm/coolfeeling. In this
paper,the fundamentalanalysisof the transientheat conductionin a sheet-likesolid along its thick-
ness directionis analyzedin the case when a plate of good heat conductingpropertieshaving finite
heat is placedon the top of a sheet-likesolid of poor heat conductingpropertiessuchas fabrics.
The solutionis obtained in those two cases, one is the case that the temperatureat the bottom
surfaceof the specimenis kept constantand anotheris that the bottomsurfaceis thermallyinsulated.
From these analyses,the transient heat conductionundersuch conditionshas beenfully explained.
A methodfor measuringthermalconductivityand thermaldiffusivityfromthe transient phenome-
non is presentedas an applicationof this analysis.The featureof thismethodis that the measurement
canbe carriedout in a fewseconds,and therefore,withlesseffectof the changeof testcondition,e.g.,
changeof moisturecontentof specimen,on the measuredvalues.

heat conduction properties of sheet-like solid with poor

1. Introduction
heat conduction such as polymer sheets and heat insulation
There have been many researches by many workers on materials can also be measured.
the heat conduction properties of fiber assembly and they This study will be presented in three papers.
obtained their results according to their measurement In Part 1, theoretical analysis on the transient heat con-
methods and philosophies. ~112 ] In this paper, a study on duction in this measuring system is made. The results are
the heat conduction from a heat source having a finite heat confirmed by experiment and a high speed measuring
content to a fabric specimen in contact with heat source is method of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity is
analyzed. An experimental work by HolliesW3i has long presented as an application of this analysis.
hcen the only work on heat conduction from heat source of In Part 2, the relationship between gmax, a measure of
finite heat content to fabric until a study on the fabric fabric warm/cool feeling, and the transient heat conduction
warm/cool feeling was carried out recently by Kawabata phenomena in man skin when another body is touched is
and Akagi' using this method with marked improvements theoretically analyzed on the basis of the theory in Part 1.
in many technical points. The latter authors correlated the In Part 3, the transient heat conduction phenomena of
maximum value of heat flux, gmax, to the fabric warm/cool two-layered body is analyzed both theoretically and experi-
feeling when a heat source having finite heat contacts fabric. mentally to shed light on the effects of specimen surface
In view of above, the authors present in this study a theoreti- which influences the warm/cool feeling.
cal basis for this method. Especially, theoretical basis for In this research, fabric is regarded as a simple solid with
the correlation between the gmax and the fabric warm/cool homogeneous material properties without going into the
feeling is discussed. As an application of this theory, a quick structure of fabrics. The structural effects of the specimen
measuring method of thermal conductivity and thermal on the transient heat conduction will be treated in future
diffusivity of fabrics is presented. Using this method, the papers.

Vol. 29 No 4 (1983) 73
 2. Basic Principle Measuring Method finite region (0<x<d) (Fig. 2). The temperature distribu-
tion within the specimen, u(x, t), satisfies the following
The measuring method presented here is based on the
equation of heat conduction,
principle discussed in a previous paper~14~ through improve-
ments in several points and the measuring system is now au _k 82 u .......................................... (1)
well established with easy handling and high accuracy. at axe
Here, the basic principle of the method is presented without General solution of eq. (1) and solutions under some special
reffering to the details of equipments. The measuring method conditions are known.C16,173 Here, we denote the following.
is further discussed in the experimental section of this paper. Temperature and heat flux;
u(x, t) : Temperature of the specimen at time t (sec) and posi-
tion x (cm);
y(t) : temperature of heat source plate at time t (sec) (deg);
Yo: initial uniform temperature of the specimen (deg);
q(t) : heat flux at the interface between heat source plate and
the specimen at time t (sec). (cal/cm2•sec).
Material constants of the specimen;
K: Thermal conductivity (cal/cm•deg•sec)
k : Thermal diffusivity (cm2/sec)
C: Specific heat (at constant pressure) (cal/g•deg)
p : Density (g/cm3)
The principle is shown in Fig. 1. A specimen first placed d: Thickness (cm)
Here, k = K/ PC ................................. (2)
on a plate of which temperature is kept constant. Before
measurement, the temperature of the heat source plate made Material constants of heat source plate (copper plate
with uniform thickness);
of good heat conductor, actually copper, is raised up to
Mo : Mass (g)
about 5-10 degree higher than that of the specimen and,
Co : Specific heat (cal/g•deg)
in the measurement, the plate is rested on the upper surface
of the specimen. The temperature fall of the heat source Po: Density (g/cm3)
do : Thickness (em)
plate due to the heat flow from the heat source plate is
So : Contact area of interface between the specimen and the
measured and recorded along passing time. The heat flux
is obtained by differentiating electrically the signal of the heat source (cm)
temperature fall curve. Experiments were carried out under ao : ao=MoCo/So=poCodo ..................... (3)
conditions that the temperature of the bottom surface of where ao denotes the heat content of the heat source plate
specimen is kept constant, called "the constant temperature per unit area of contact surface (cal/cm2•deg).
condition", and that the bottom surface of the specimen The purpose of this analysis is to obtain the heat flux
is thermally insulated, called "the insulated condition." flowing out from the heat source plate to the specimen and
This method enables the measurement of heat conduction relate it to the thermal properties of the specimen assuming
properties of fabrics such as thermal conductivity and ther- that the heat source plate made of good heat conductor
mal diffusivity. The heat flux, q(t), was found to exhibit a having finite heat content is rested on the upper surface of
maximum peak value, gmax, which can also be measured, the specimen, which is usually poor heat condutor.
and details of gmax will be presented in Part 2 of this series. The heat flux, q(t), which is mainly used in this analysis,
is given as follows.
3. Theory
a (t) =-ao • dy/dt ................................. (4)
We consider a one-dimensional heat conduction in the The boundary and initial conditions are given as eqs.
(5)-(8). The unknown function, y(t), expressing the tempera-
ture change of heat source plate (initial value, yo) appears
in eqs. (6) and (7). Equation (1) is solved under the
conditions (5), (6) and (8) and then y(t) is determined using
eq. (7). u(x, t) and q(t) are derived from the y(t) thus ob-
tained.
u(0, t)=0 .......................................... (5)
u(d,t)=y(t) .......................................(6)
Fig. 2 Mathematical model and its coordinate system K • au/3x1 x=a=-ao • dy/dt .................. (7)
u(x, 0)_0 .............................................(g)

74 Journal of The Textile Machinery Society of Japan

a

Equation (5) shows that temperature is kept constant at tion. Eq. (5) in the case of (A) is replaced by eq. (20) in this
x = 0 ("the constant temperature condition (A)"), and case.
eq. (6) shows the continuity of temperature at the contact lim u (x, t) =0 .............................. (20)
surface between the heat source and the specimen, eq. (7) x=~

shows the continuity of heat flux at the contact surface and The solution is as follows :
eq. (8) shows that the temperature of the specimen is kept
constant and uniform before the contact. (C) u (x, t) =yoeA2tkerf c (AT+x/2 kt)
The partial differential equation (1) is solved by Laplace
transform method and the inverse transform is carried out by
Bromwich integral. Under the conditions (5)-(8), which we
call the constant temperature condition (A), the solution is
obtained as follows :
sin Sn . e-cant
(A) u (x, t) =2yo 1
~nCOS~n+ 1+- sln~n erfc(x)=- 2 fe_ t'dt
............... (9)
~ -lan t
y(t)=2y ° n=1 e 1 ................. (10) 4. Discussion of the Solution
a9 +1+-
a 4.1 The Solution under the Constant Temperature
a (t) =-ao ' dy/dt ........................ (11) Throughout the present study, heat flux, q(t), flowing out
where In : a series of positive roots of from heat source to the specimen is an important quantity
in the analysis. Here, the relationship between q(t) and
cot = aj3 (n = 1, 2, 3...),......... (12)
thermal properties of specimen under the constant tempera-
a : a=poCodo/pCd ..................... (13) ture condition (A) is discussed briefly.
I : l =k/d2 .............................. (14) Equation (11) can be rewritten as follows :
Here, a denotes heat content ratio of heat source and speci-
men per unit sectional area and l denotes the heat diffusion q(t) =aoy° ~Wne-t/rn ..............................
n=t
(25)
rate of specimen normalized with thickness of specimen , d. where' Wn = ,
2 19~ 1 ........................ (26)
In the next place, the solution under the condition that the a9+ 1+-
a
specimen is thermally insulated at x = 0 ("the insulated
condition (B)") is derived. In this case, eq. (5) is replaced by Tn=1/l/9„ ................................. (27)

(15) while (6), (7) and (8) remain unchanged.

Figure 3 shows the q(t) given by the eq. (25) for various
au/axl x=o=0 .............................. (15) thicknesses of the specimen under constant material proper-
Thus, we obtain; ties, K, k and pC. The vertical axis is scaled by common
logarithm of q(t). In this section, material constants used in
(B) u(x, t) = y° 1 +2y° the calculation are those of plasticized PVC sheet.
l+-
a
K =1.88 X 10-4 ( cal/cm . deg . sec )
COS yn • e_ -2 t k =5.15X104-( cm2/sec )
\a I ........ (16)
-ynsinyn+(i+
1 cosyn p C=0.366 ( cal/deg . cm3)

Each q(t) curve in Fig. 3 consists of two parts, that is, an

y(t)=---+2y° e-~Ynt ... (17) initial curved part followed by a linear part. The initial
1+1a a
n-la yn+l+1 a curved part coincides with one unique curve regardless of
a(t) =-ao . dy/dt ........................ (18) changing d values and this unique curve is the solution (C)
for semi-infinite solid (d = oo) under the same material con-
where yn : a series of positive roots of
stants and the initial curved part increases with increasing
tan y=-ay (n=1,2,3......) ..... (19) thickness, d. For small d, the linear part which may be ap-
For the purpose of comparison, the solution for the case proximated by a single exponential which constitute most
of semi-infinite solid is shown below. In this case, x = 0 of the q(t) curve. Figure 4 shows the transient temperature
is taken at the contact surface between heat source plate distribution, u(x, t), within the specimen. The u(x, t) curves
and specimen with the x increasing in the downward direc- for t = 0.2,1 sec clearly show that, during the initial curved

Vol. 29 No. 4 (1983) 75

 Table 1 Thickness dependence of fin, Pn, Wn, 2
an: cot /3 = afi, Pn = 2/(afn2+ 1+ 1/a),
Wn = (21 /3n2)/(apn2+1 +1/a), n - 1// fn2
Material: p-PVC
d = 0.02, a = 13.66, l = 1.286

Fig. 3 q(t) for various thicknesses in the case ao - 0.1, yo - 10

under the condition that temperature at x = 0 is kept con-
stant. (material : p-PVC K = 1.88><l0-~, k = 5.15 x 10-x,
pC = 0.336)

Fig. 4 Temperature distribution in specimen under the condition

that temperature at x = 0 is kept constant. (material:
p-PVC d = 0.15 cm)

76 Journal of The Textile Machinery Society of J apan

part of q(t), the effect of heat flow from the heat source plate
has not reached the bottom of the specimen and make the
heat conduction in the initial period identical to that in the
case of semi-infinite solid; that is, the initial curved part of
q(t) depends only on the thermal properties of the material
and not on thickness. The temperature distribution within
specimen at single exponential part of log q(t) (t = 10, 50,
100) are almost linear and this shows that steady heat flow
is established in this time region.
In the next place, the effects of thickness, d, on the para-
meters of eq. (25) are discussed. Table 1 shows the results
of calculation. From this table, it is shown that a and l
depend on thickness, and these parameters influence Wn
and rn. Particularly, the first time constant, rl, and the
degree of convergence of rn are sensitive to changes in d
and consequently, they affect the behaviour of q(t). Thus,
the q(t) curve has the characteristics of both semi-infinite
solid solution and the single exponential. There are two
limiting behaviours of q(t), one for very large d and another
for very small d. For very large d (Fig. 3, d = oo), the limit-
ing curve of q(t) for d = oo as given in eq. (10) coincides
Fig. 5 Temperature distribution in specimen under the condition
with the semi-infinite solid solution as given by eq. (22). that surface at x = 0 is insulated thermally. (material:
And this fact can be easily proved analytically. When d is p-PVC d = 0.05 cm)
very large, l and A have the relationship;

a~ _,oCK_A
ao .....................................(28)

As far as a and l change their values under the condition of

eq. (28) the initial curve of log q(t) coincide with a unique
semi-infinite solid solution in spite of the variation of thick-
ness, d. When d is very small, eq. (25) reduces to eq. (29).

q (t) y e-tit, ................................ (29) d

This relationship shows that the time delay caused by the

propagation of heat wave front within the specimen becomes
very small when thickness of specimen is small.
4.2 The Solution under the Insulated Condition
In Fig. 5, the temperature distribution within the specimen
under the insulated condition as given in eq. (16) is shown.
After the initial transient, the temperature profile, u(x, t),
approaches a uniform equilibrium temperature, y~. y~ is
expressible as;
y~ __ a ..................................... (30)
Yo a+1
Figure 6 compares the calculated q(t) under the three
conditions, (A), (B) and (C). It can be seen that the initial Fig. 6 q(t) for three conditions:
curved part of log q(t) coincides with semi-infinite solid Constant temperature at x = 0 (broken lines)
solution under all three conditions and the curved part Insulated at x = 0 (dots and dashes lines)
extends with increasing thickness, d. This is because the Semi-infinite solid (solid line)
initial part of q(t) is essentially identical with regardless of (material: p-PVC K = 1.88 x 10'4, k = 5.15 x 10'4, pC =
0.366)
the boundary condition at the bottom of the specimen.
This result is important as shown later.

Vol. 29 No. 4 (1983) 77

 5. Application to the Measurement of Heat Conduction 5.2 a and the Solution under the Insulated Condition
Properties of Fabrics Parameter a can be determined using the solution (B) for
the insulated condition. Figure 8 illustrates the procedure
Heat conduction properties such as K, k and pC can be
to obtain a. As mentioned in section 4.2, eqs. (16) and (17)
measured using the theoretical predictions discussed above.
show that the temperature, u(x, t) and y(t), approach a
The procedure of measurement are described in this section.
constant value, T,,, as t becomes large. Broken line in Fig. 8
5.1 Measurement of zi under the Constant Temperature shows this process. The T,. can be expressible as;
Condition T~/To=a/(a+.1) ........................... (35)

where T0: Initial temperature of heat source

T~ : Temperature of heat source at t = Co.
From eq. (35), a can be determined as;
a= 1~/ (To-T) .................... (36)

Fig. 7 A typical curve in experiment under the condition that

temperature at x = 0 is kept constant.

Fig. 8 A typical curve in experiment under the condition that

Figure 7 shows the typical experimental curve of q(t)
under the constant temperature condition. gmax is the peak
value of heat flux, q(t), and appears shortly after contacting
the heat source with specimen. (The physical meaning of
gmaz will be discussed in Part 2 of this series.) As time
elapses, the transition from the curved part to the linear part
is observed as predicted theoretically. The first term of the
series in eq. (25) which is the linear part of q(t) are expressed
as;
4(t) =aoyoWie-~`(31)
where
r1=1/l,S,z ...........................................
Taking common logarithm both sides of eq. (31), we obtain,
logicq (t) = logioaoyoW~
- t log,aa ................ (33)
This relationship shows that the first time constant, r, can
be derived from the slope of the curve obtained experimental-
ly, log q(t) vs. t under the constant temperature condition.
That is;
r,=log,oe/f -0.4343/f
where f= d logy (t) /d t
ri depends on a and / because a has a correlation to 6i which
is the first positive root of cot j9 = a j3.
surface at x = 0 is insulated thermally.
Experimentally, however, complete insulation cannot be
realized and for theat reason y(t) fails to settle to T~. The
best practical insulation material available was hard poly-
stylene foam which conduct a small amount of heat resulting
in a slow and steady temperature fall shown by the solid
line in Fig. 8. Fortunately, there is a convenient way to
derive the equilibrium temperature, T~, for the case of
complete insulation from the experimental y(t) curve. When
the linear part of y(t) is extended to intersect the t = 0 line
and the intersect gives the T. value.
(32) 5.3 Procedure for Obtaining Thermal Properties of Material
From ri and a which are obtained from the experiments
under the constant temperature condition and the insulated
condition respectively, the heat conduction properties of
specimen, K, k and pC can be derived in the following
manner.
(1) Using the equation cot ~i = the relationship be-
tween a and ai can be calculated numerically as shown in
Table 2. From the experimental value of a obtained under
........... (34)
the insulated condition, corresponding ~i (or 1/6i2) can be
read off from the table. Using the value of 1/ Qi2thus ob-
tained and the experimental value of v obtained under the
constant temperature condition, / can be determined by
use of eq. (32)', that is,

78 Journal of The Textile Machinery S ociety of Japan

 Table 2 Relation between a and 1/j312 comes difficult. Therefore, there is a lower limit of thick-
R.E. ; Difference between K values obtained by the simplified (K') ness of specimen to which this method is applicable and the
and the strict (K) methods R.E. (%) _ (K-K')/K x 100 criterion is a> 10-20.

6. A Simplified Method to Obtain Thermal Conductivity

When parameter a is large, that is, when the heat content
of the specimen is relatively small compared to that of heat
source plate, thermal conductivity K can be obtained by a
simplified method. In this method, experiments need be
carried out only under the constant temperature condition
to determine ri from which K value can be derived.
The first positive root of eq. (12) satisfies eq. (36).
cot,81=a91 .......................................... (37)
When a is large, j3i is very small. In this case,
tan fl>9. ............................................. (38)
Therefore,
cot,9 ="1/tan(3,-1//d, .......................... (39)
Substituting (39) into (37), we obtain;
a-1//912 ................................................ (40)

Within the range where the relationship (38) holds, eq. (32)
can be rewritten as,
1 d2 pCd2 cod
r, = 1~
,2= k~,2=-K a---
From this equation, K is given as,
K=ao • d/r, ....................................... (41)
Equation (41) shows that the thermal conductivity, K, of
the specimen can be obtained from the experimental values
of ri and d.
The relative error( %) of l /j32 brought about by the simpli-
fication depends on a and can be estimated using Table 2.
If 5 % relative error is allowed a> 6.7 must hold.
If 10 % relative error is allowed a> 3.4 must hold.
l=1/r1 ............................... (32Y
When the heat source constant, ao, is 0.1, the upper limit
(2) Thermal diffusivity, k, can be obtained using eq. (14)'. of thickness for the simplified method is approximated as
follows;
k=ld2 .................................. (14),
dc=0.1/pC• ac ....................................... (42)
(3) Specific heat per unit volume, pC, can be obtained using
eq. (13)'. where, a0 is the minimum a value given above correspond-
ing to percentage of error allowed.
Using this relationship, dicision can be made as to whether
(4) Using eq. (2)', thermal conductivity, K, can be obtained. the simplified method can be used. Estimated d~ values for
fabric and polymer sheet are as follows;
When d becomes large, measurement of ri becomes In the case of typical fabrics having the parameter value
difficult and suffi cient accuracy cannot be obtained for pC = 0.2; d0 = 0.75 mm if 5 % deviation in K from the
reasons discussed in section 4.1. Therefore, there is an upper correct value is allowed. d~ _ 1.5 mm if 10% deviation is
limit of thickness, d, of specimen. The upper limit of d is allowed.
given in terms of a by the approximate criterion a > 1. In the case of polymer sheet of pC 0.35; d~ _ 0.43 mm
When d becomes too small, measurement of temperature if 5 % deviation is allowed. d0 0.84 mm if 10 % deviation is
fall of heat source plate under the insulated condition be- allowed.

Vol. 29 No. 4 (1983) 79

3

[An example of calculation for obtaining thermal parameters] The heat source plate is made of copper plate of 3 cm x 3
An example of calculation by the simplified method is cm square and its thickness is about 1 mm so as to make
shown in this section. In an experiment using plasticized ao equal to 0.1. The back side of the heat source plate which
PVC specimen ofd = 0.0311 cm, v = 17.1 sec is obtained. does not touch the specimen is thermally insulated by hard
Thermal conductivity is calculated as follows; polystylene foam. Temperature sensor is attached to this
side. The heat source plate is heated up to a certain tem-
K=ao•d_O.1X0.0311 '1,814X10
r, 17.1 perature, which is higher than the room temperature, by
(cal/cm •deg •sec)
putting it on the "BT Box" which consists of copper block
whose temperature can be controlled by a heater control
For comparison, calculation by the strict method given
in section 5.3 is as follows. By carrying out the experiment system.
In taking the measurement, heat source plate ("T Box")
under the insulated condition, a = 8.78 is obtained.
Procedure (1) : For the a = 8.78, l /j32 = 9.116 is ob- is taken out of "BT Box" and rested on the upper side of the
specimen. The temperature fall of the "T Box" is detected
tained using Table 2.
by a platinum wire sensor having very quick response and
l=1/r, •,8,2=9.116/17.1=0.533 (1/sec) the detected signal is transmitted to "Amp" part. In the
"Amp" part
Procedure (2) : , the signal is converted to q(t) by differentiat-
ing the signal and then the q(t) signal is converted to log
k=1d2=0.533 x0.03112
=5.155 X 10-' (cm2/sec) q(t) using "Log Amp The peak value of the initial heat
flux, gmaz, is stored by an electronic circuit for the prediction
Procedure (3) : of warm/cool feeling, which will be discussed in the follow-
ao ing paper. With this apparatus, measurement by the steady
pC_ a • d _ 8.78 X
0.1
0.0311
=0 .366 (cal/deg•cm )
state method is also possible by putting the sample between
Procedure (4) : the surfaces of the "Water Box" and the "BT Box" to
measure thermal conductivity. Thus, we have two methods,
K=pC• k=0.366 X (5.155 X 10-4) the transient method and the steady state method for
-1.887 X 10-4 (cal/cm •deg • sec) measuring thermal conductivity using the same apparatus.
The experiment were carried out under the conditions that
7. Experiment water temperature was about room temperature (22-24°C)
and the temperature difference between the heat source
To confirm the agreement between thermal conductivities
plate and the "Water Box" was 10°C. The pressure applied
measured by the transient method and by the steady state to the specimen by "T Box" was 12.5 g/cm2. It took about
method, the following experiment was carried out. Block-
20 sec per one run of transient method.
diagram of the apparatus for the transient heat conduction On the other hand, in experiments under the insulated
measurement is shown in Fig. 9. This apparatus was devel- condition, hard polystylene foam board was used in place
oped by Kawabata in the previous work~14,15~ and was
of the "Water Box" to place the specimen. In this case,
named "Thermo Labo". ideal thermal insulation could not be realized as mentioned
The dimension of the specimen used here is 3 cm x 3 cm
above. The temperature fall due to the leak of heat from the
square. Thickness of the specimen ranges from 0.1 mm to specimen to polystylene foammwas eliminated electrically
2 mm. The specimens are fabrics and polymer sheets. by an electronic correction circuit. It takes about 5-6
Before the measurement, the specimen is rested on the
"Water Box" whose temperature is kept constant by circulat- minutes per one run under this condition.

ing water of room temperature to satisfy the boundary

condition (5).

Fig. 9 Block diagram of a main part of "Thermo Labo".

80 Journal of The Textile Machinery Society of Japan

 Figure 10 compares the experimentally measured q(t)
8. Results and Discussion
with theoretical q(t) given by eq. (25) using the K, k and pC
8.1 Comparison between Transient Method and Steady determined by the transient method. The two are in good
State Method agreement.
The specimens used in experiments were vulcanized Iso- The IR 2, 3 and 4 in Fig. 10 denote Isoprene Rubber
prene Rubber, plasticized PVC, PET and three kinds of specimen which are molded to have various thicknesses.
fabrics. The length of the initial curved part of log q(t) increases
Table 3 summarizes material constants measured by this with increasing thickness. This trend is in agreement with
equipment. The values of thermal conductivities measured the theoretical prediction in section 4.1.
by the transient and the steady state methods have a good
8.2 Results of the Simplified Method
agreement.
Table 4 summarizes the experimental values of thermal

Table 3 K values obtained by the transient heat conduction method compared by the steady heat
conduction method (ao = 0.1, yo = 10)

Table 4 Comparison of the values of thermal conductivity obtained by using the simplified and the
strict methods

Vol. 29 No. 4 (1983) 81


Fig. 10 Experimental results of the transient heat conduction
(broken lines)
The solid lines are the theoretically fitted curves using
measured thermal parameters.
conductivity, K, of fabrics and polymer sheets measured by
the simplified method. Comparison of thermal conductivities
measured by the strict and the simplified methods are also
shown in Table 4. Relative error (%) or K obtained by the
strict method to that of the simplified method is in agreement
with what Table 2 predicts. This shows that K values ob-
tained by the simplified method are reliable when a> a~ is
satisfied.
8.3 The Measurement of Thermal Conductivity of Foam
Material by the Simplified Method
Table 5 summarizes thermal conductivity of foam meas-
ured by the simplified method and the steady state method.
In the case of foam material, it is difficult to carry out the
experiment under the insulated condition to obtain para-
meter a. Therefore, the strict method cannot be used to
measure the thermal conductivity of foam material. How-
ever, because of the very small pC value of foam, parameter
a is expected to be large enough to apply the simplified
method when the thickness is 1-2 mm. In Table 5, estimated
values of a of the foam assuming that pC 0.03 are shown.
The agreement between K values obtained from the simpli-
fied method and those from the steady state method is good.
This fact supports the good approximation ability of the
simplified method.

Table 5 Thermal conductivity of foam materials obtained by the simplified method

Table 6 Comparison between the strict method and the simplified method

82 Journal of The Textile Machinery Society of Japan

 8.4 Comparison between the Strict Method and the Simpli- the physical meaning of the measured value very clear and
fied Method the reliability of the measured values high.
Table 6 summarizes the comparison between the strict
and the simplified methods. With the simplified method, the 9. Conclusion
K values can be obtained just by the experiment under the
One-dimensional transient heat conduction from a heat
constant temperature condition. Meanwhile, in the strict
source having a finite heat content was analyzed mathe-
method, experiments under the insulated condition must
matically and the results were applied to the measurement
be carried out in addition to those under the constant tem-
of heat conduction properties of sheet-like specimen.
perature condition but it adds only several minutes to one
Properties measured are thermal conductivity, K, thermal
run.
diffusivity, k, and specific heat per unit volume, pC. The
values of K obtained by this transient method and that by the
Table 7 Example of reproducibility of measurement
steady state method were in good agreement. It is concluded
Material IR (d = 0.0742 cm)
that the present transient method is applicable with high
reliability to the measurement of heat conduction properties
of fabrics and polymer sheets.

References

[1] Naka, S., Motomura, H, and Kamata, Y.; J. Text.

Table 7 shows an example of reproducibility of the meas-
ured K values due to this method. Relative error to the
mean values is less than about 5 % and it may be concluded
that the reproducibility is good.
When thermal diffusivity, k, and specific heat per unit
volume, pC, have to be measured, the strict method is re-
commended. On the other hand, when only thermal con-
ductivity, K, is needed, the simplified method is recommend-
ed.
Advantages of the present method are as follows :
(1) The measurement can be carried out in a few seconds,
therefore, with less effect of the change of test condition.
For example, in the measurement of fabrics, which contain
some amount of water in ordinary state, the heat conduc-
tion properties of fabric can be measured in the moistured
condition with less change in water content;
(2) The principle of the measurement method is very
simple and the apparatus is also simple. In addition, the
boundary condition is well defined. These combine to make
Mach. Soc. Japan, 26, T34 (1973).
[2] Naka, S. and Kamata, Y.; J. Text. Mach. Soc. Japan,
26, T43 (1973).
[3] Naka, S., Kamata, Y. and Yoshino, J.; Sen-i Gakkaishi,
30, T9 (1974).
[4] Naka, S. and Kamata, Y.; Sen-i Gakkaishi, 30, T43
(1974).
[5] Naka, S. and Kamata, Y.; J. Text. Mach. Soc. Japan,
30, T30 (1977).
[6] Kamata, Y.; Sen-i Gakkaishi, 31, T317 (1975).
[7] Horikawa, A. and Matsuda, Y.; J. Text. Mach. Soc.
Japan, 27, T84 (1974).
[8] Nogai, T., Nozawa, Y. and Narumi, Y.; Sen-i Gakkai-
shi, 33, T398 (1977).
[9] Nogai, T., Nozawa, Y. and Narumi, Y. ; Sen-i Gakkai-
shi, 34, T301 (1978).
[10] Nogai, T.; Sen-i Gakkaishi, 36, T324 (1980).
[I 1] Nogai, T. ; Sen-i Gakkaishi, 36, T389 (1980).
[12] Nogai, T. and Ihara, M.; Sen-i Gakkaishi, 36, T427
(1980).
[13] Hollies, N. R. S., Bogaty, H., Hintermaier, J. C. and
Harris, M.; Text. Res. J., 23, 763 (1953).
[14] Kawabata, S. and Akagi, Y.; J. Text. Mac. Soc. Japan,
30, T13 (1977)
[15] Kawabata, S.; Proceeding of the 33rd Annual Con-
ference of Text. Mach. Soc. Japan (1980).
[16] Churchill, R. V.; "Operational Mathematics" 3rd ed.
McGraw-Hill Kogakusha (1972).
[17] Carslaw, H. S. and Jaeger, J. C.; "Conduction of Heat
in Solids" 2nd ed. Oxford University Press (1959).

Vol. 29 No. 4 (1983) 83