Abstract
Laser flash analysis (LFA) has long been used for thermophysical properties measurements at high temperatures for both monolayer and multi-layer materials. Although some high-temperature bulk candidate reference materials were developed and studied, e.g., in the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) funded Joint Research Project (JRP) ENG08 Metrofission, they were not able to meet the requirements for validating thermal measurements of multi-layer systems using LFA. In the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) funded JRP 17IND11 Hi-TRACE project, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is developing multi-layer reference artifacts, including both fully bonded and partially debonded systems for validating thermal characterization of multi-layer systems at temperatures from room temperature to above 1000 degrees C using LFA. This paper details the methodology of production, measurement and validation of silicon carbide and molybdenum foil-based multi-layer systems with, and without, partial debonding. Reproducibility and thermal stability of the artifacts will be discussed, with recommendation on the usage criteria as LFA multi-layer reference artifacts. The multi-layer system was found to be thermally stable for at least ten thermal cycles between room temperature and 1200 degrees C. The interface thermal conductance of both the bonded and debonded region of the artifacts was calculated using an inverse model and was shown to remain stable with varying temperatures and over five thermal cycles.