On the optimization of experimental parameters in photopyroelectric investigation of thermal diffusivity of solids

Abstract In this paper, the possibility of optimizing the experimental conditions for a correct photopyroelectric evaluation of the thermal diffusivity of solid samples is studied. For this purpose, a glassy carbon sample, with known thermal properties, was selected as test material and two types of techniques were applied in order to get the value of its thermal diffusivity: (i) the photopyroelectric calorimetry in back detection configuration and (ii) the infrared thermography. Assuming that the values of thermal diffusivity obtained by thermography are correct (a non-contact technique), we studied how to eliminate the underestimation (due to the presence of the coupling fluid) of the results in the back photopyroelectric calorimetry investigations. Experiments with different types of coupling fluids and numerical simulations were performed in order to evaluate the influence of the coupling fluid on the value of the thermal diffusivity. The conclusion is that a proper choice of the type of coupling fluid and some improvements performed in the experimental design of the photopyroelectric calorimetry detection cell (with the purpose of reducing the coupling fluid’s thickness), can eliminate the difference between the results obtained with the two photothermal (contact and non-contact) techniques.