Resumen:
A study of a steady-state method for thermal conductivity measurements of liquids has been carried out. It uses a C80D differential micro-calorimeter from Setaram (France), with special designed vessels containing a heating resistance. The thermal conductivity k of a liquid sample is determined as a function of the heat flow measured by the calorimeter, using an expression whose coefficients are found through the calibration with three reference liquids. These coefficients change with the calorimeter temperature, so the calibration has to be performed at each temperature. In this work, it has been verified that the coefficients' temperature variations can be justified by the thermal properties of the calorimeter components. A new model valid for all temperatures has been developed, taking into account those factors. This new model confirms the physical meaning of the procedure, brings down the number of measurements required for the calibration, and slightly reduces the uncertainty of the results.
