The range of thermal conductivities is enormous. As we see from
Fig.
1.6
,
k
varies by a factor of about 10
5
between gases and
diamond
at
room temperature. This variation can be increased to about 10
7
if we in-
clude the effective conductivity of various cryogenic “superinsulations.”
(These involve powders, fibers, or multilayered materials that have been
evacuated of all air.) The reader should study and remember the order
of magnitude of the thermal conductivities of different types of materi-
als. This will be a help in avoiding mistakes in future computations, and
it will be a help in making assumptions during problem solving. Actual
numerical values of the thermal conductivity are given in Appendix
A
(which is a broad listing of many of the physical properties you might
need in this course) and in Figs.
2.2
and
2.3
.
Example 1.2
A copper slab (
k
=
372 W/m
·
K) is 3 mm thick. It is protected from
corrosion on each side by a 2-mm-thick layer of stainless steel (
k
=
17
W/m
·
K). The temperature is 400
◦
C on one side of this composite wall
and 100
◦
C on the other. Find the temperature distribution in the
copper slab and the heat conducted through the wall (see Fig.
1.7
).
Solution.
If we recall Fig.
1.5
and eqn. (
1.10
), it should be clear that
the temperature drop will take place almost entirely in the stainless
steel, where
k
is less than 1
/
20 of
k
in the copper. Thus, the cop-
per will be virtually isothermal at the average temperature of
(
400
+
100
)/
2
=
250
◦
C. Furthermore, the heat conduction can be estimated
in a 4 mm slab of stainless steel as though the copper were not even
there. With the help of Fourier’s law in the form of eqn. (
1.8
), we get
q
=−
k
dT
dx
17 W/m
·
K
·
400
−
100
0
.
004
K/m
=
1275 kW
/
m
2
The accuracy of this rough calculation can be improved by con-
sidering the copper. To do this we first solve for
∆
T
s
.
s
.
and
∆
T
Cu
(see
Fig.
1.7
). Conservation of energy requires that the steady heat flux
through all three slabs must be the same. Therefore,
q
=
k
∆
T
L
s
.
s
.
=
k
∆
T
L
Cu