New Photopyroelectric Technique for Precise Measurements of the Thermal Effusivity of Transparent Liquids

A new photopyroelectric methodology for thermal effusivity measurements in transparent liquids is presented. The new methodology involves the thermally thick limit of the pyroelectric signal in the standard front-surface configuration. A signal normalization procedure, which avoids the conventional requirement for transfer function determination, is implemented. The thermal effusivity of five liquids was measured by means of this technique, and very good agreement was found with corresponding values reported in the literature.