As a part of the IMI-NFG's series of low-cost experiments in glass science [1,2] we have developed a simple home-built apparatus for measuring the thermal conductivity of glassy materials, from polymers to oxide glasses, in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 W/ °C. Our apparatus is inexpensive, relatively easy to construct and accurate enough for students to use for quantitative measurements of their own glass or polymer samples. Standard materials are used to demonstrate good correlation with literature values. We also measured the thermal conductivity of a silica filled epoxy and showed a linear increase with fill fraction to 20%. This simple, lowcost method can provide students and researchers with a much broader access to this important property.
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