Thermal conductivity of solid argon, deuterium, and methane from one-dimensional freezing rates

Abstract

The thermal conductivities of solid argon, deuterium, and methane have been determined near their triple points from measurements of one-dimensional freezing rates. In this new technique, a cylinder of liquid is frozen axially from one end, and the thermal conductivity of the freezing solid is evaluated from the freezing rate and the cylindrical cell end temperatures. A plastic cell wall offers the advantages of visual observation of the freezing solid and negligible cell wall conduction. The estimated random and systematic errors for the apparatus are 5% and 3%, respectively. Improved instrumentation may reduce these errors by one-half.