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Thermal camouflage
Thermal camouflage conceals objects from infrared detection by reducing or reshaping the contrast between their heat radiation and their background, developed as a military discipline after twentieth-century infrared surveillance matured.
Thermal cloak
A thermal invisibility cloak is a device built from thermal metamaterials that redirects heat flow around an enclosed region, proposed in 2008 and first demonstrated in 2012.
Thermal cloaking
Thermal cloaking is a metamaterial technique that guides heat flow around a protected region so an object becomes thermally undetectable, first proposed in 2008 and demonstrated experimentally in 2012.
Thermal Club
The Thermal Club is a private motorsports country club near Palm Springs, California, with a 17-turn, 3.067-mile road course. It hosted IndyCar's 2024 $1 Million Challenge exhibition, a 2025 points race, and was dropped for 2026.
Thermal comfort
Thermal comfort, also called comfort temperature, is the condition of mind expressing satisfaction with the thermal environment, assessed by models like Fanger's PMV and standards such as ASHRAE 55.
Thermal comfort model
A thermal comfort model predicts how comfortable building occupants will feel from air temperature, humidity, air speed, and personal factors, producing indices such as PMV and PPD rather than a single temperature.
Thermal concentrator
A thermal concentrator is a thermal metamaterial device that guides and focuses heat flux into a central region, proposed in 2012 and first demonstrated the same year.
Thermal conduction
Thermal conduction, or heat conduction, is the transfer of heat through stationary matter by direct molecular interaction, governed by Fourier's law and measured by thermal conductivity.
Thermal conductivity
Thermal conductivity is a material property measuring how quickly heat passes through a substance, high in metals and low in insulators, first defined by Joseph Fourier around 1807.
Thermal conductivity detector
The thermal conductivity detector, historically called the katharometer, is a universal, nondestructive detector for gas chromatography, the third most used after flame ionization and mass spectrometry.
Thermal conductivity of polymers
The thermal conductivity of polymers is the coefficient measuring how well polymeric materials conduct heat, typically 0.1 to 0.4 W/(m·K) for amorphous plastics, but raiseable by orders of magnitude through chain alignment, crystallinity, and fillers.
Thermal contact resistance
Thermal contact resistance (TCR) is the added resistance to heat flow at the interface between two solids pressed together, caused by contact at microscopic asperities.
Thermal curing
Thermal curing is a materials processing method that uses heat to harden thermosetting polymers, adhesives, and composite resins by driving irreversible cross-linking reactions that convert liquid resin into a solid network.
Thermal cycler
A thermal cycler, also known as a thermocycler or PCR machine, is a laboratory instrument that automates the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by repeatedly heating and cooling samples.
Thermal decomposition
Thermal decomposition, also called thermal degradation or thermolyse, is a chemical reaction in which heat causes one substance to break down into two or more simpler substances.
Thermal delamination
Thermal delamination is a recycling process that uses heat to break the adhesive bonds in photovoltaic modules so glass, silicon cells, and metals can be recovered.
Thermal depolymerization
Thermal depolymerization is a thermochemical process that uses heat, often with pressurized water or catalysts, to convert biomass, plastics, and organic waste into hydrocarbon oils.
Thermal design power
Thermal design power (TDP), also called thermal design point, is a vendor-defined sustained power-dissipation target in watts used to size processor cooling, not a hard ceiling on power draw.
Thermal desorption
Thermal desorption is a solvent-free sample-preparation technique that heats a sorbent in inert gas to release volatile compounds for gas chromatography, used in air monitoring and forensics.
Thermal desorption spectroscopy
Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS), also called temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), heats a sample under a controlled ramp while a mass spectrometer records released gases, measuring desorption energies and coverages.
Thermal diffusion (separation process)
Thermal diffusion, also called the Soret effect, separates the components of a gas or liquid mixture using a temperature gradient; the Clusius-Dickel column of 1938 made it practical.
Thermal diffusivity
Thermal diffusivity, usually written α, is a material property measuring how quickly a temperature change spreads through a material; it is defined as k / (ρCp) in m²/s.
Thermal diode
A thermal diode, also called a thermal rectifier, is a device that conducts heat preferentially in one direction and insulates in the opposite direction, like an electronic diode.
Thermal efficiency
Thermal efficiency, or thermodynamic efficiency, is the fraction of heat supplied to a heat engine that becomes net work output, bounded by the Carnot limit.
Thermal energy
Thermal energy is the energy of the random microscopic motion of a substance's atoms and molecules, forming part of its internal energy, proportional to temperature, and increased by friction.
Thermal energy storage
Thermal energy storage (TES), also called a thermal battery, stores heat or cold in a medium and releases it on demand for heating, cooling, or power generation.
Thermal equilibrium
Thermal equilibrium is the condition in which temperature is uniform and no net heat flows between parts of a system or between systems in contact.
Thermal error compensation
Thermal error compensation is a machine tool control technique in which a model predicts heat-induced displacement between tool and workpiece, applied as real-time offsets since thermal effects cause up to 70% of machining errors.
Thermal evaporation
Thermal evaporation, also known as thermal deposition, is a physical vapor deposition method in which heated material evaporates in vacuum and condenses as a thin film.
Thermal expansion
Thermal expansion, or thermal expansion and contraction, is the tendency of matter to change dimensions with temperature, quantified by coefficients used in engineering to manage thermal stress.