The Thermal Properties of Human Blood during the Freezing Process

This paper presents calculations of the density, thermal conductivity, and enthalpy of blood during the freezing process. The calculations are based upon the premise that blood freezes similarly to a mixture of fats, proteins, and sodium chloride in a water solution and freezes so that ice crystals align themselves with the direction of heat flow. The properties were checked by calculating the theoretical temperature–time history of blood freezing in a Teflon-coated stainless-steel tube and comparing the results with experiments. The agreement was within 10 percent over the entire ranges of temperature and time. Hence the derived thermal properties are concluded to be good approximations to the real properties.