Fast estimate of solid materials thermal conductivity by IR thermography

A testing procedure is presented to obtain an estimate of the effective thermal conductivity of solid materials in steady state. Thermoelectric devices are used as controlled source/sink of heat on the specimen under test. The evaluation of the heat flux and the temperatures realized on the specimen is done by looking at the system with a thermographic camera. The test is faster than the standard steady state methods, thanks to the small dimension of the system and specimen, lasting about 10-20 minutes. Preliminary experimental results show a good agreement with results obtained from alternative methods. This approach could be particularly useful to analyze experimentally the local varying of the effective conductivity of porous building materials as in the case when it is due to weathering of the exposed surfaces, or to the moisture content.