Some Thermal and Electrical Properties of Candelilla Wax

TL;DR

This study measures the thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, and electrical resistivity of Candelilla Wax using photoacoustic, photothermic, and Kelvin null methods, providing key properties for potential applications.

Contribution

It presents novel measurements of thermal and electrical properties of Candelilla Wax using multiple techniques, which were not previously reported.

Findings

Thermal diffusivity: 0.026 cm²/sec

Thermal conductivity: 2.132 W/mK

Resistivity: 5.98 x 10^{17} ohm-cm

Abstract

We report the values of some thermal and electrical properties of Candelilla Wax (euphorbia cerifera). The open-cell photoacoustic technique and another photothermic technique - based on the measure of the temperature decay of a heated sample - were employed to obtain the thermal diffusivity ($\alpha_{s} = 0.026 \pm 0.00095 {cm}^{2}{/sec}$) as well as the thermal conductivity ($k=2.132 \pm 0.16 {W/mK}$) of this wax. The Kelvin null method was used to measure the dark decay of the surface potential of the sample after a Corona Discharge, obtaining a resistivity of $\rho_e=5.98 \pm 0.19 \times 10^{17} {ohm-cm}$.