Applicability of Wiedemann-Franz Law to Thermal Conductivity of Molten Field’s Metal

Abstract

The thermal conductivity of metals and alloys is an important physical property. The thermal conductivity of metals and alloys in the liquid state is usually hard to be measured, because it is difficult to exclude the effect of convection. As such, as a convenient approach, the Wiedemann-Franz law has been used for the estimation of thermal conductivity of metals and alloys in the liquid state. However, some reports show the deviation from Wiedemann-Franz law of pure Sn and Sn-based metals in the liquid state. Measuring the thermal conductivity of various Sn-based alloys in the liquid state is of significant importance to identify its heat transfer in terms of whether the deviation from Wiedemann-Franz law is observed. In this study, Field’s metal is focused on as one of the Sn-based alloys. Then, its thermal conductivity in the solid and liquid states with various temperature ranges by employing the transient hot wire method. This method is appropriate due to its nature of dealing with the convection-including problems. Finally, the adaptability of Wiedemann-Franz law is analyzed by using the obtained thermal conductivity and electric conductivity data. In this study, the deviation from Wiedemann-Franz law was observed in the liquid state.