Thermal conductivity of powdered quartz at various temperatures

Thermal conductivity of powdered quartz at various temperatures

Junjie Chen

Contributor: Junjie Chen, ORCID: 0000-0001-5055-4309, E-mail address: [e-mail], Department of Energy and Power Engineering, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, 2000 Century Avenue, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, P.R. China

A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms powder and granular are sometimes used to distinguish separate classes of material. In particular, powders refer to those granular materials that have the finer grain sizes, and that therefore have a greater tendency to form clumps when flowing. Granular refers to the coarser granular materials that do not tend to form clumps except when wet. Typically, a powder can be compacted or loosened into a vastly larger range of bulk densities than can a coarser granular material. When deposited by sprinkling, a powder may be very light and fluffy. When vibrated or compressed it may become very dense and even lose its ability to flow. The bulk density of coarse sand, on the other hand, does not vary over an appreciable range. The clumping behavior of a powder arises because of the molecular Van der Waals force that causes individual grains to cling to one another. This force is present not just in powders, but in sand and gravel, too. However, in such coarse granular materials the weight and the inertia of the individual grains are much larger than the very weak Van der Waals forces, and therefore the tiny clinging between grains does not have a dominant effect on the bulk behavior of the material. Only when the grains are very small and lightweight does the Van der Waals force become predominant, causing the material to clump like a powder. The cross-oversize between flow conditions and stick conditions can be determined by simple experimentation. Many other powder behaviors are common to all granular materials. These include segregation, stratification, jamming and unjamming, fragility, loss of kinetic energy, frictional shearing, compaction and Reynolds' dilatancy.

Thermodynamic temperature (degrees kelvin), Thermal conductivity (watts per meter-kelvin)

373.2            0.178

483.2            0.184

588.2            0.209

673.2            0.23

723.2            0.259