Measurement of Specific Heat of Biological Tissue Using IR Imaging and Spectroscopy

This paper presents a device for the measurement of the heat capacity of small biological samples in the physiological temperature range (34–40C°) using infrared (IR) thermometry. Conventional calorimetry is unsatisfactory for this purpose due to the relatively large size of the sample required and the changes in the specific heat induced by temperature changes in the measurement process. The present device design and calibration is discussed, along with preliminary experimental results. Auxiliary IR spectroscopy has been used to check the biological samples. Preliminary results show that the present method can be used for the measurement of the thermal properties of small samples.