LAUSR

With the rapid development of concentrating solar power stations, Al–Cu eutectic alloy can be potentially used as a latent heat storage material to provide heating during periods without sunlight. During heat storage system designs, knowledge of the liquid phase thermal conductivity is indispensable, and yet there has been no detailed report published on the thermal conductivity of liquid Al–Cu alloys. To determine thermal conductivity, one can calculate using either electrical conductivity with the Lorenz number or from thermal diffusivity. To not make any assumptions on the Lorenz number, we calculated the thermal conductivity from thermal diffusivity data obtained by laser flash. We also provided data for the liquid Al-rich region by adapting the van der Pauw method for liquids. The obtained thermal conductivity shows the excellent heat transfer ability of liquid Al–Cu alloys.