Application of the flash method to rods and tubes

The flash method is the most used technique to measure the thermal diffusivity of solids. It consists of heating the front face of an opaque slab by a short light pulse and detecting the temperature evolution at its rear surface, from which the thermal diffusivity is retrieved. In this paper we extend the classical flash method to be used with rods and tubes. First, the temperature evolution of the surface temperature of solid and hollow cylinders is calculated. Then, experimental measurements of a set of stainless steel samples using an infrared camera confirm the validity of the method.