Thermal conductivity determination of small polymer samples by differential scanning calorimetry

A DSC method that utilizes a very simple accessory designed for measuring thermal conductivity of polymers is described. The method does not require any use of temperature sensors and any modification to the DSC instrument. Measurements by this method are very rapid, each measurement only takes a few minutes. The method is particularly suitable for small samples, such as cylinders of 6 mm in diameter and 2-8 mm in length. In contrast to the existing DSC methods wherein thermal contact resistance usually leads to great deviation in thermal conductivity measurement of samples, the method described in this work minimizes the effect of thermal contact resistance. Thermal conductivities have been obtained from PMMA, PTFE and HDPE samples using this method and the results showed good agreement with the literature values.