Thermal-diffusivity measurements by the converging-thermal-wave technique

A converging-thermal-wave technique is described for the measurement of thermal diffusivity in bulk or thin-sheet materials. An annular-shaped area is heated by a pulsed laser beam focused on the material's surface through a combination of spherical and conical lenses, and the surface temperature is monitored by an infrared detector focused on the center of the annulus. The converging action of the thermal flux results in a high amplitude of the detected signal with little overheating of the irradiated material. An analysis of such a technique is presented, as well as some experimental results obtained on heterogeneous materials. Several aspects relevant to the practical implementation of such a technique in an industrial environment, such as the effect of surface losses and different noise sources, are discussed.