Computer aided thermal analysis

Inverse numerical techniques have been applied in a range of different thermal studies in the past. These techniques require measurements of boundary conditions and temperatures at known position within the sample in order to determine thermal properties of the material of interest. Typically, they have been applied to highly specific applications and designs. In the current work the authors have designed a novel instrument in order to measure apparent specific heats of a range of different materials during continuous heating. Measurements of surface heat flux, surface and centre temperatures of the sample were obtained under controlled heating for temperatures of up to 1000°C. Measured data was used to quantify specific and latent heats by employing inverse numerical modelling technique. The instrument was calibrated with calorimetric calibration materials and results were compared with the literature values. The average experimental error was estimated to be approximately 0.9% for the reaction peak temperatures and 1.7% for the latent heats. Detailed experimental and calculation procedures as well as measured results of specific heat and enthalpy for a number of materials are presented here.