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thermal conductivity

American  

noun

Physics.
  1. the amount of heat per unit time per unit area that can be conducted through a plate of unit thickness of a given material, the faces of the plate differing by one unit of temperature.


thermal conductivity British  

noun

  1. Sometimes shortened to: conductivity.   λ.   k.  a measure of the ability of a substance to conduct heat, determined by the rate of heat flow normally through an area in the substance divided by the area and by minus the component of the temperature gradient in the direction of flow: measured in watts per metre per kelvin

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

thermal conductivity Scientific  
  1. A measure of the ability of a material to transfer heat. Given two surfaces on either side of the material with a temperature difference between them, the thermal conductivity is the heat energy transferred per unit time and per unit surface area, divided by the temperature difference. It is measured in watts per degree Kelvin.


Example Sentences

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When tested, these high-purity samples demonstrated a remarkable thermal conductivity above 2,100 W/mK -- surpassing not only earlier experimental results but also the theoretical ceiling itself.

From Science Daily

The unique properties of diamonds, including high thermal conductivity and resistance to electrical breakdown, make it an ideal candidate for high-power, high-frequency electronic devices.

From Science Daily

"We found that we can control the elastic modulus and thermal conductivity of some 2D HOIPs by replacing some of the carbon-carbon chains in the organic layers with benzene rings," says Qing Tu, co-corresponding author of this paper and an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Texas A&M University.

From Science Daily

Specifically, they found that by introducing chirality into the organic layers -- i.e., making the carbon chains in those layers asymmetrical -- they could effectively maintain the same stiffness and thermal conductivity even when making substantial changes to the composition of the organic layers.

From Science Daily

"This raises some interesting questions about whether we might be able to optimize other characteristics of these materials without having to worry about how those changes might influence the material's stiffness or thermal conductivity," says Liu.

From Science Daily