Study of thermal properties on the different layers composing a commercial ceramic tile

In this study is determined the thermal conductivity of a commercial ceramic considering that this property on the building materials is an essential factor, and it is the primary indicator of the suitableness of the material in the energy transfer considering that this kind of materials has many applications as thermal insulations. In this sense and considering that a commercial tile is usually composed of three layers, a substrate, a so-called engobe layer, and an enamel layer. Likewise, the thermal properties of the different layers were obtained individually by using two photothermal techniques on the ceramic material; the ceramic tile density was obtained using the Archimedes method. The calculated values show a wide range of thermal conductivity values for the different layers, ranging from1.3 to 4 W m-1K-1.