Hot Disk

TPS Technology

The well-established Hot Disk method, also referred to as the Transient Plane Source (TPS) method or the Gustafsson Probe, invented by Hot Disk AB founder Dr. Silas E. Gustafsson in 1986, allows rapid, accurate and non-destructive testing of Thermal Conductivity, Thermal Diffusivity, Thermal Effusivity and Specific Heat Capacity of most material types, all in a single measurement. Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity are tested directly, and Thermal Effusivity and Specific Heat Capacity are calculated from the former two.

A key aspect of the TPS method is that it is absolute. There is no need for repeated calibrations or use of standard samples, as is common with other approaches. The TPS method is highly flexible and merely requires one or two pieces of the sample in question to test, each needing no more than one flat surface where the Hot Disk double spiral sensor can be applied. There is no need for fixed sample geometries, inherently distorting contact agents or cumbersome surface modifications.

To underline the robustness of the technique, many peer-reviewed papers explaining and evaluating the technique have been published in scientific journals. Since 2008 the method is standardised in ISO 22007-2, and over the years thousands of publications featuring results acquired with Hot Disk instruments have been published.

In this section, a brief history of Hot Disk AB is given. Furthermore, key publications are presented and linked. We always strive to give our users, present and future, a greater understanding of the powerful Hot Disk technique and its benefits.

Top 5 Hot Disk Publications

In these five fundamental Hot Disk publications the essential idea, isotropic, anisotropic, slab, thin-film and specific heat measurement methods are described. Information on the calculation method and the use of small sensors are also discussed. The standard ISO 22007-2 is based on reference 1 to 4.
  1. Transient plane source techniques for thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurements of solid materials Silas E. Gustafsson Rev. Sci. Instrum., 62 (3), 797-804 (1991). Link
  2. Thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat of thin samples from transient measurements with Hot Disk sensors Mattias Gustavsson, Ernest Karawacki and Silas E. Gustafsson Rev. Sci. Instrum. 65 (12), 3856 (1994). Link
  3. On the Use of Transient Plane Source Sensors for Studying Materials with Direction Dependent Properties Mattias Karl Gustavsson and Silas E. Gustafsson Proceedings of the 26th International Thermal Conductivity Conference, Massachusetts, Cambridge, 6–8 August 2005, edited by R. Dinwiddie (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 2004), p. 367–377. Link
  4. On the Use of the Hot Disk Thermal Constants Analyser for Measuring the Thermal Conductivity of Thin Samples of Electrically Insulating Materials J. S. Gustavsson, Mattias Karl Gustavsson and Silas E. Gustafsson Thermal Conductivity 24, Eds. P.S. Gaal, D. E. Apostolescu (Lancaster, MA: Technomic), p. 116-122 (1997). Link
  5. Specific heat measurements with the Hot Disk thermal constants analyser Mattias Karl Gustavsson, N. S. Saxena, Ernest Karawacki and Silas E. Gustafsson Thermal Conductivity 23, Eds. K. E. Wilkes, R. B. Dinwiddie, R. S. Graves (Lancaster, MA: Technomic) p. 56-65 (1995). Link

 

Further reading

We are proud that there are thousands of publications featuring the Hot Disk method and measurements. In the section below, selected and recommended publications providing in-depth understanding of the Hot Disk method are presented.

  1. Dynamic measurement of near-field radiative heat transfer S. Lang, G. Sharma, S. Molesky, P. U. Kränzien, T. Jalas, Z. Jacob, A. Yu. Petrov and M. Eich Nature Scientific Reports, Volume 7, 13916 (2017) Link In this novel and innovative work, the Hot Disk TPS system is utilized to study near-field radiative heat transfer across voids as narrow as 150 nm. A full description on how to perform such measurements are found in the publication.
  2. Finite element modeling of the Hot Disc method B. M. Mihiretie, D. Cederkrantz, A. Rosén, H. Otterberg, M. Sundin, S.E. Gustafsson and M. Karlsteen International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Volume 115, Part B, December 2017, Pages 216–223. Link Thermal simulations of the Hot Disk sensor, describing how the heat spreads from the sensor during a measurement, can be found in this practical paper.
  3. Thermal conductivity versus depth profiling of inhomogeneous materials using the hot disc technique A. Sizov, D. Cederkrantz, L. Salmi, A. Rosén, L. Jacobson, S. E. Gustafsson and M. Gustavsson Review of Scientific Instruments 87, 074901 (2016) Link The novel Hot Disk Structural Probe is explained in this paper.
  4. Thermal depth profiling of materials for defect detection using hot disk technique B. M. Mihiretie, D. Cederkrantz, a), M. Sundin, A. Rosén, H. Otterberg, Å. Hinton, B. Berg and M. Karlsteen AIP Advances 6, 085217 (2016) Link In this publication the practical use of the Hot Disk structural probe is discussed and evaluated.
  5. On Power Variation in Self-Heated Thermal Sensors Mattias Karl Gustavsson and Silas E. Gustafsson Thermal Conductivity 27, pp. 338-346 (2005) Link The fine-tuned calculation scheme and the compensation for sensor specific heat is described in this paper. It also contains an introduction to the Low-Density/Highly-Insulating measurement module.
  6. ISO 22007-2 Link In the international standard ISO 22007-2, originally published in 2008 and updated in 2015, a detailed description on how to select points for calculation is found. In the appendix the full description of the Low-Density/Highly-Insulating measurement module is included.
  7. Dynamic plane-source technique for the study of the thermal transport properties of solids Ernest Karawacki and Bashir M. Suleiman High Temp.-High Press. 23, 215-223 (1991) Link One-dimensional measurements and calculations are described in this publication.
  8. Parameter estimations for measurements of thermal transport properties with the hot disk thermal constants analyzer Vlastimil Bohac, Mattias K. Gustavsson, Ludovit Kubicar and Silas E. Gustafsson Rev. Sci. Instrum. 71 (6), 2452-2455 (2000) Link A theoretical explanation of the time window connection is presented in this paper.
  9. Thermal properties of lithium sulphate B M Suleiman, M Gustavsson, E Karawacki, A Lundén J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 30, 2553 (1997) Link How to stabilize calculations by locking the specific heat per unit volume is explained here.
  10. Thermal conductivity and diffusivity of wood B. M. Suleiman, J. Larfeldt, B. Leckner and M. Gustavsson Wood Science and Technology (1999) 33: 465 Link In this paper the Hot Disk technique is used to study thermal transport properties of wood.
  11. Thermal conductivity as an indicator of fat content in milk Mattias Gustavsson and Silas E. Gustafsson Thermochimica Acta, Volume 442, Issues 1–2, 15 March 2006, Pages 1-5 Link Here the use of a Hot Disk device to analyse liquids is described. The article also discuss how the method can be used to monitor small structural changes in a compound.

 

About Hot Disk AB

Hot Disk AB was established in 1995, based on Dr. Silas E. Gustafsson’s groundbreaking research at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, during the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Today this development continues. Hot Disk AB, still based in Gothenburg, remains a fully independent, self-funded, family-owned company dedicated solely to expanding the frontiers of testing and measuring thermal transport properties, with an abiding focus on quality and performance. Hot Disk AB and its esteemed distribution network now provides instruments on a global market, with 1600 units installed worldwide to date (February 2022). The instrumentation’s fields of use are too numerous to list here, but include the aerospace industry, car manufacturers, material science, semiconductor and electronics industries, civil engineering, quality control etc. In scientific journals, there are now thousands of peer-reviewed papers utilizing the Hot Disk technique, high-lighting the excellent value the equipment continues to add to the countless fields of material research (see under Publications).