Material testing systems and associated components and methods

A method of measuring a thermal diffusivity of a structure, the method comprising:

• heating a surface of a material of the structure with a laser having a first modulation frequency;
• measuring a first value of thermal electromagnetic radiation released by the structure;
• storing, in a memory device, the first value of the thermal electromagnetic radiation released by the structure;
• changing a modulation frequency of the laser to a second modulation frequency different from the first modulation frequency;
• heating the surface of the material of the structure with the laser having the second modulation frequency;
• measuring a second value of the thermal electromagnetic radiation released by the structure at the second modulation frequency;
• storing, in the memory device, the second value of the thermal electromagnetic radiation released by the structure;
• changing the modulation frequency of the laser to a third modulation frequency different from the first modulation frequency and the second modulation frequency;
• heating the surface of the material of the structure with the laser having the third modulation frequency;
• measuring a third value of the thermal electromagnetic radiation released by the structure at the third modulation frequency;
• storing, in the memory device, the third value of the thermal electromagnetic radiation released by the structure;
• extrapolating a thermal diffusivity curve of the structure using the first value, the second value, and the third value;
• and
• identifying the thermal diffusivity of the structure as a value of the thermal diffusivity curve in a boundary region of the thermal diffusivity curve.

A method of forming a structure, the method comprising:

• filling a mold with a material;
• sintering the material in the mold while applying a current to the material;
• measuring a thermal diffusivity of the material in the mold;
• and
• calculating a density of the material in the mold using the thermal diffusivity of the material.