Thermal Conductivity of Titanium Carbide, Zirconium Carbide, and Titanium Nitride at High Temperatures

The thermal conductivity of titanium carbide, zirconium carbide, and titanium nitride was measured by a variety of techniques in the temperature range 200° to 2000° C. The titanium nitride results are a factor of four higher than the previously published values at 1000°C and show a positive temperature coefficient for the thermal conductivity rather than the negative coefficient previously reported in other work. Recent thermal conductivity data on Tic confirm earlier data obtained by the writers which differed from previous literature values. Contemporary theory fails to explain the temperature dependency of the phonon and/or electron contribution to the heat conduction in the refractory interstitial compounds.