Thermal conduction of metals under pressure

Abstract

It is shown that the original Ångström method of determining the thermal diffusivity of metals is not valid in the case of a specimen surrounded by a solid medium, and an appropriate modification is described. Several simplifications of this method are also presented and criteria for their validity given. An electronic system has been developed for automatic sampling and analysis of the temperature data. The new method has been applied to Cu under pressure, and the results show that the thermal conductivity rises by 6.4% up to 2.5 GPa (25 kilobar).