Power plants are increasing operational temperatures to achieve higher efficiency. However, they do not have reliable thermal performance design data for safety critical structures. This is because most of the industrial companies and research institutes are using Laser-Flash techniques to characterise thermal properties of materials, and they currently do not have adequate reference materials to check the calibrations of their apparatus.

Thanks to the newly developed thermal conductivity reference materials at NPL, users of laser-flash techniques are now able to have more confidence in their measurement results. These reference materials include: Pure Iron, 304 Stainless Steel and Inconel 600. They can provide traceability for thermal conductivity from 13 W/m·K to 64 W/m·K covering temperatures up to 500 °C. NPL characterised these new stocks of thermal conductivity reference materials, and they were UKAS accredited under ISO Guide 34.

To fully meet the demand from industry, NPL is developing a new high temperature national standard facility for thermal conductivity measurements up to 1000 °C. In a short term, the current national standard apparatus at NPL has already been extended from 80 W/m·K to 200 W/m·K. These national standard facilities can provide direct thermal conductivity measurements on metals, alloys and graphite. The reliable design data will be able to aid in industrial organisations in making large investment decisions and ensuring safe operations at high temperatures.

For more information, please contact Jiyu Wu