A Novel Instrument for the Measurement of the Thermal Conductivity of Molten Metals. Part II: Measurements

New measurements of the thermal conductivity of molten mercury, gallium, tin, and indium are reported up to 750 K. The measurements are performed in a novel transient hot-wire instrument described elsewhere. The present experimental technique overcomes problems of convection, and it is shown that it operates in an absolute way in accord with a theoretical model. The uncertainty of the thermal conductivity results is estimated to be ± 2%, which is superior to that achieved in most earlier work. The low uncertainty of the present experimental results has allowed us to test the only significant theory for the thermal conductivity of molten metals, which relates this property to the electrical conductivity. The pattern of results among the four metals indicates that further theoretical developments would be warraInted.