Simultaneous determination of thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of a thin layer using double modulated thermal excitations

A theoretical model is developed to determine simultaneously and in different ways thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of thin layers. This is done by using the accurate expression of the temperature distribution derived from the parabolic heat equation when the front surface of the thin layer is excited by a periodic heat flux, while the rear surface is maintained at one of three different types of boundary conditions: modulated periodic heat flux, modulated temperature, or constant temperature. Our approach exploits the modulation frequencies at which the normalized front surface temperature reaches its first maximum and first minimum. It is shown that (i) these characteristic frequencies can be used to obtain the thermal diffusivity of the finite layer under three different types of boundary conditions. (ii) The ratio between the values of the maxima and minima of the temperature can be utilized to determine the thermal conductivity of the finite layer. These two thermal properties are sensitive to the nature of the boundary conditions as well as the modulation frequency of the heat excitation. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the determination of the thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity of the finite layer using laser-based heating photothermal techniques.