Collaborative Thermal Conductivity Measurements of Fibrous Glass and Expanded Polystyrene Reference Materials

Published

November 15, 2004

Author(s)

Robert R. Zarr, James J. Filliben

Abstract

Thermal conductivity measurements of four thermal insulation reference materials are presented. The measurements were obtained from an international collaborative test program of guarded-hot-plate laboratories from Canada, France, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States. For each reference material, the collaboration requires five independent replicate measurements taken at a fixed temperature of 297.15 K; and, single-point measurements taken at multiple temperatures from 280 K to 320 K. An important finding from the replicate analysis is the existence of a laboratory-material interaction, that is, there are laboratory-to-laboratory differences in both average value and in variation which change from material to material. The major underlying source for the variability (both within- and between-laboratory) in the replace data is discussed. The analysis of the multi-temperature (280 K to 320 K) data confirms and supports the laboratory-material interaction as found in the fixed-temperature replicate analysis. This multi-temperature analysis further reveals an increasing difference between laboratories as the temperature departs from 297.15 K.

Citation

International Thermal Conductivity Conference

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

guarded-hot-plate, international, IRMM, JTCCM, NPL, NIST, NRCC, LNE, reference material, thermal conductivity, thermal insulation

Citation

Zarr, R. and Filliben, J. (2004), Collaborative Thermal Conductivity Measurements of Fibrous Glass and Expanded Polystyrene Reference Materials, International Thermal Conductivity Conference (Accessed October 10, 2025)