The measure of the movement of heat through a body by kinetic molecular activity. It is used in Fourier’s law, which states that the thermal conductivity is independent of the temperature gradient but not necessarily of temperature itself. The thermal conductivity is the proportionality constant between heat flux and temperature gradient. That is, the rate of flow of heat (dQ/dt) through a surface of area A in a medium is given by:
where dT/dt is the temperature gradient measured in the direction normal to the surface. Values for the thermal conductivity vary widely for substances, with metals having the highest and finely powdered materials the lowest. The SI units are W m−1 K−1.