Our Top 5 Publications

In these five fundamental Hot Disk publications the essential idea, isotropic, anisotropic, slab, thin-film and specific heat measurement methods are described. Information on the calculation method and the use of small sensors are also discussed. The standard ISO 22007-2 is based on reference 1 to 4.

1. Transient plane source techniques for thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurements of solid materials
   Silas E. Gustafsson
   Rev. Sci. Instrum., 62 (3), 797-804 (1991).
   Link
2. Thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat of thin samples from transient measurements with Hot Disk sensors
   Mattias Gustavsson, Ernest Karawacki and Silas E. Gustafsson
   Rev. Sci. Instrum. 65 (12), 3856 (1994).
   Link
3. On the Use of Transient Plane Source Sensors for Studying Materials with Direction Dependent Properties
   Mattias Karl Gustavsson and Silas E. Gustafsson
   Proceedings of the 26th International Thermal Conductivity Conference, Massachusetts, Cambridge, 6–8 August 2001, edited by R. Dinwiddie (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 2004), p. 367–377.
   Link
4. On the Use of the Hot Disk Thermal Constants Analyser for Measuring the Thermal Conductivity of Thin Samples of Electrically Insulating Materials
   J. S. Gustavsson, Mattias Karl Gustavsson and Silas E. Gustafsson
   Thermal Conductivity 24, Eds. P.S. Gaal, D. E. Apostolescu (Lancaster, MA: Technomic), p. 116-122 (1997).
   Link
5. Specific heat measurements with the Hot Disk thermal constants analyser
   Mattias Karl Gustavsson, N. S. Saxena, Ernest Karawacki and Silas E. Gustafsson
   Thermal Conductivity 23, Eds. K. E. Wilkes, R. B. Dinwiddie, R. S. Graves (Lancaster, MA: Technomic) p. 56-65 (1995).
   Link

Further reading

We are proud that there are thousands of publications featuring the Hot Disk method and measurements. In the section below, selected and recommended publications providing in-depth understanding of the Hot Disk method are presented.

1. Dynamic measurement of near-field radiative heat transfer
   S. Lang, G. Sharma, S. Molesky, P. U. Kränzien, T. Jalas, Z. Jacob, A. Yu. Petrov and M. Eich
   Nature Scientific Reports, Volume 7, 13916 (2017)
   Link
   In this novel and innovative work, the Hot Disk TPS system is utilized to study near-field radiative heat transfer across voids as narrow as 150 nm. A full description on how to perform such measurements are found in the publication.
2. Finite element modeling of the Hot Disc method
   B. M. Mihiretie, D. Cederkrantz, A. Rosén, H. Otterberg, M. Sundin, S.E. Gustafsson and M. Karlsteen
   International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Volume 115, Part B, December 2017, Pages 216–223.
   Link
   Thermal simulations of the Hot Disk sensor, describing how the heat spreads from the sensor during a measurement, can be found in this practical paper.
3. Thermal conductivity versus depth profiling of inhomogeneous materials using the hot disc technique
   A. Sizov, D. Cederkrantz, L. Salmi, A. Rosén, L. Jacobson, S. E. Gustafsson and M. Gustavsson
   Review of Scientific Instruments 87, 074901 (2016)
   Link
   The novel Hot Disk Structural Probe is explained in this paper.
4. Thermal depth profiling of materials for defect detection using hot disk technique
   B. M. Mihiretie, D. Cederkrantz, a), M. Sundin, A. Rosén, H. Otterberg, Å. Hinton, B. Berg and M. Karlsteen
   AIP Advances 6, 085217 (2016)
   Link
   In this publication the practical use of the Hot Disk structural probe is discussed and evaluated.
5. On Power Variation in Self-Heated Thermal Sensors
   Mattias Karl Gustavsson and Silas E. Gustafsson
   Thermal Conductivity 27, pp. 338-346 (2005)
   Link
   The fine-tuned calculation scheme and the compensation for sensor specific heat is described in this paper. It also contains an introduction to the Low-Density/Highly-Insulating measurement module.
6. ISO 22007-2
   Link
   In the international standard ISO 22007-2, originally published in 2008 and updated in 2015, a detailed description on how to select points for calculation is found. In the appendix the full description of the Low-Density/Highly-Insulating measurement module is included.
7. Dynamic plane-source technique for the study of the thermal transport properties of solids
   Ernest Karawacki and Bashir M. Suleiman
   High Temp.-High Press. 23, 215-223 (1991)
   Link
   One-dimensional measurements and calculations are described in this publication.
8. Parameter estimations for measurements of thermal transport properties with the hot disk thermal constants analyzer
   Vlastimil Bohac, Mattias K. Gustavsson, Ludovit Kubicar and Silas E. Gustafsson
   Rev. Sci. Instrum. 71 (6), 2452-2455 (2000)
   Link
   A theoretical explanation of the time window connection is presented in this paper.
9. Thermal properties of lithium sulphate
   B M Suleiman, M Gustavsson, E Karawacki, A Lundén
   J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 30, 2553 (1997)
   Link
   How to stabilize calculations by locking the specific heat per unit volume is explained here.
10. Thermal conductivity and diffusivity of wood
    B. M. Suleiman, J. Larfeldt, B. Leckner and M. Gustavsson
    Wood Science and Technology (1999) 33: 465
    Link
    In this paper the Hot Disk technique is used to study thermal transport properties of wood.
11. Thermal conductivity as an indicator of fat content in milk
    Mattias Gustavsson and Silas E. Gustafsson
    Thermochimica Acta, Volume 442, Issues 1–2, 15 March 2006, Pages 1-5
    Link
    Here the use of a Hot Disk device to analyse liquids is described. The article also discuss how the method can be used to monitor small structural changes in a compound.

Hot Disk AB: A Profile in Excellence

Hot Disk AB is a Swedish Company established in 1995, based on Dr. Silas E. Gustafsson’s groundbreaking research at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, during the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

Dr. Silas E. Gustafsson (Ph.D. & Docent in Physics, 1969) invented both the Hot Disk® method and the Hot Strip® method for simple and accurate testing of thermal transport properties of bulks, granules, powders, pastes, liquids, and insulators. He thereafter founded Hot Disk AB together with Dr. Lars Hälldahl (Ph.D. in Chemistry 1985, and Technical Attaché at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo, Japan 1987-1990), to assemble and market user-friendly instruments based on these two methods. At Hot Disk AB, Dr. Gustafsson continued refining and extending the capabilities of the two methods together with his son Dr. Mattias Gustavsson (Ph.D. in Thermo- and Fluid dynamics 2000; inventor of the Residual Thermodynamics theory and affiliated practice 2012¹, 2015² & 2022³; as well as a novel and improved theory of Turbulence, 2024⁴). Dr. Lars Hälldahl is to be acknowledged as being critical to the company’s successful establishment, via branding, marketing, sales network construction, and ISO standardization. Dr. Hälldahl has been of signal importance in building the distribution arms of Hot Disk in China and India, as well as in garnering the best available sales representation worldwide: this through a network of international distributors with requisite technological expertise and scientific akribeia.

Dr. Mattias Gustavsson and Dr. Silas Gustafsson have invented and jointly developed our popular add-on capabilities, the so-called Measurement Modules, to our Hot Disk® instruments. This to be able to cover testing of all other types of samples than those mentioned above, e.g. laminates, fiber composites, stacks, rods, slabs, sheets, foils, films, and textiles. These are part of our Anisotropic-, Slab-, Thin Film-, and 1D- measurement modules. They also invented our add-on capabilities dedicated for quality control (QC) testing, including single-sided testing and structural- and defect- probing. These latter are now part of our Single-sided and Structural Probing Measurement Modules.

Today the scientific and business developments continue at Hot Disk AB, with Dr. Mattias Gustavsson as CEO; Dr Silas E. Gustafsson as senior scientific advisor; and Dr. Lars Hälldahl as senior business advisor to our team of application engineers and developers. We recently launched our collective push in battery testing, with the development of a range of Hot Cell® sensors of varying size for testing the specific heat capacity of batteries. Our joint strength lies in our combination of solid, PhD-level scientific competence and extensive commercial as well as industrial experience, garnered over many years of hard work.

Hot Disk AB, still based in Gothenburg, remains a fully independent, self-funded, family-owned company dedicated solely to expanding the frontiers of testing and measuring thermal transport properties, with an abiding focus on quality and performance.

Hot Disk AB and its esteemed distribution network provides instruments on a global market, with more than 2000 units installed worldwide to date (March 2024). Our famed instrumentation’s fields of use are too numerous to list here, but include the aerospace industry, automobile and battery industry, material science and development at research institutes and universities, semiconductor and electronics industries, civil engineering projects, production-line quality control, textile industry, food industry, geological studies etc. In scientific journals, there are now several thousands of peer-reviewed papers utilizing our instruments, high-lighting the excellent value our equipment continues to add to the vast fields of material research and quality control (see our publications database).

References