Corrections for Thermal Expansion in Thermal Conductivity Measurement of Insulations Using the High-Temperature Guarded Hot-Plate Method

Abstract

The anticipation of recently published European product standards for industrial thermal insulation has driven improvements in high-temperature thermal conductivity measurements in an attempt to obtain overall measurement uncertainties better than 5 % (k = 2). The two measurement issues that are focused on in this article are the effect of thermal expansion on in situ thickness measurement and on determining the metering area at high temperatures. When implementing in situ thickness measurements, it is vital to correct the thermal expansion of components in a high-temperature guarded hot plate (HTGHP). For example, in the NPL HTGHP this could cause 3.2 % measurement error for a 50 mm thick specimen at 800 °C. The thermal expansion data for nickel 201 measured by NPL are presented, and the effect of this on the metering area of NPL’s heater plate (nickel 201) is discussed.