Thermal effusivity


In thermodynamics, the thermal effusivity, thermal inertia or thermal responsivity of a material is defined as the square root of the product of the material's thermal conductivity and its volumetric heat capacity.
Here, is the thermal conductivity, is the density and is the specific heat capacity. The product of and is known as the volumetric heat capacity.
A material's thermal effusivity is a measure of its ability to exchange thermal energy with its surroundings.
If two semi-infinite bodies initially at temperatures and are brought in perfect thermal contact, the temperature at the contact surface will be given by their relative effusivities.
This expression is valid for all times for semi-infinite bodies in perfect thermal contact. It is also a good first guess for the initial contact temperature for finite bodies.
Direct measurement of thermal effusivity may be performed using specialty sensors, as pictured.

Thermal Effusivity vs Thermal Effusance

A materials thermal effusivity is a measure of its ability to exchange thermal energy with its surroundings. Although the quantity of thermal effusivity can be expressed in bulk property terms of e = √k∙ρ∙Cρ when measured, it is not measured in terms of bulk properties.
e = is thermal effusivity
k = is thermal conductivity
ρ = is density
Cρ = is heat capacity

Applications

One application of thermal effusivity is the quasi-qualitative measurement of coolness or warmth feel of materials on textiles and fabrics. When a textile or fabric is measured from the surface with short test times by any transient method or instrument, the measured effusivity includes various heat transfer mechanisms, including conductivity, convection and radiation, as well as contact resistance between the sensor and sample.