Experimental determination of the thermal diffusivity of molten alkali halides by the forced Rayleigh scattering method. I. Molten LiCl, NaCl, KCl, RbCl, and CsCl

As a series of experimental determinations of the thermal diffusivity of molten alkali halides, this paper describes measurements on five molten alkali metal chlorides (LiCl, NaCl, KCl, RbCl, and CsCl) in the temperature range up to 1440 K by the forced Rayleigh scattering method. K₂Cr₂O₇ is employed as a dye substance to color the transparent molten salts. The accuracy is estimated to be ± 4 to ±11 % depending on the measured salts. In comparison with the present results converted into thermal conductivity, most of the previous experimental data obtained by steady-state methods show larger values, up to about five times, which may be due to the systematic error caused by the presence of convection and radiation. It is found that the thermal conductivity of these series of molten alkali metal chlorides decreases with increasing molecular weight, and their temperature coefficients are weakly negative.