Measurement of the thermal diffusivity of aqueous solutions of alcohols by a laser-induced thermal grating technique

Abstract

The thermal diffusivity of methanol, ethanol, and their aqueous solutions was measured at atmospheric pressure and temperature. The measurements were performed with a laser-induced thermal grating technique. The aqueous solutions have weight fractions of 20, 40, 60, and 80%. Systematic errors were taken into consideration, and corrections were made to the measured values. Focused laser beams were used, which notably intensify the diffracted signal, reduce the background to zero, and justify neglecting the heterodyne term of the diffracted signal, thus simplifying the data evaluation. Hence, the accuracy of the measurements was improved significantly. The overall accuracy of the measurements is estimated to be better than 1.5%.