Thermal Conductivity Converter
Thermal conductivity is how readily a material conducts heat. The SI unit is the watt per meter kelvin. Building-insulation data in the US is published in BTU inches per hour square foot degree Fahrenheit — the reciprocal of the familiar R-value per inch — while European data uses W/(m·K) directly.
15 units supported Base unit watt per meter kelvin (W/(m·K))
Multiply the number of watts per meter kelvin by 6.9334717968 to get btu (it) inch per hour ft² °f. How this is calculated
About thermal conductivity conversion
Thermal Conductivity conversion is commonly needed when insulation selection, heat-sink design, and building energy modelling. US insulation is sold by R-value, which is the reciprocal of conductivity per unit thickness — a higher R means a lower conductivity.
Popular conversions
Convert Watt per Meter Kelvin to other thermal conductivity units
1 W/(m·K) expressed in every other thermal conductivity unit on this site.
- Watt per Meter Kelvin W/(m·K) 1
- Watt per Centimeter °C W/(cm·°C) 0.01
- Kilowatt per Meter Kelvin kW/(m·K) 0.001
- Milliwatt per Meter Kelvin mW/(m·K) 1,000
- Calorie (IT) per Second cm °C cal(IT)/(s·cm·°C) 0.002388459
- Kilocalorie (IT) per Hour m °C kcal(IT)/(h·m·°C) 0.85984523
- BTU (IT) per Hour ft °F BTU/(h·ft·°F) 0.57778932
- BTU (th) per Hour ft °F BTU(th)/(h·ft·°F) 0.57817598
- BTU (IT) per Second ft °F BTU/(s·ft·°F) 0.00016049703
- BTU (IT) inch per Hour ft² °F BTU·in/(h·ft²·°F) 6.9334718
- BTU (IT) inch per Second ft² °F BTU·in/(s·ft²·°F) 0.0019259644
- Calorie (th) per Second cm °C cal(th)/(s·cm·°C) 0.0023900574
- Kilocalorie (th) per Hour m °C kcal(th)/(h·m·°C) 0.86042065
- BTU (th) inch per Hour ft² °F BTU(th)·in/(h·ft²·°F) 6.9381118
- BTU (th) inch per Second ft² °F BTU(th)·in/(s·ft²·°F) 0.0019272533
Complete list of thermal conductivity units
All 15 units this converter supports, each stated against the watt per meter kelvin (W/(m·K)).
| Unit | Symbol | System | In watts per meter kelvin | Conversions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watt per Meter Kelvin | W/(m·K) | SI | base unit (W/(m·K)) | w/mk to btu·in/hr·ft²·°f |
| Watt per Centimeter °C | W/(cm·°C) | SI | 1 W/(cm·°C) = 100 W/(m·K) | — |
| Kilowatt per Meter Kelvin | kW/(m·K) | SI | 1 kW/(m·K) = 1,000 W/(m·K) | — |
| Milliwatt per Meter Kelvin | mW/(m·K) | SI | 1 mW/(m·K) = 0.001 W/(m·K) | — |
| Calorie (IT) per Second cm °C | cal(IT)/(s·cm·°C) | Metric | 1 cal(IT)/(s·cm·°C) = 418.68 W/(m·K) | — |
| Kilocalorie (IT) per Hour m °C | kcal(IT)/(h·m·°C) | Metric | 1 kcal(IT)/(h·m·°C) = 1.163 W/(m·K) | — |
| BTU (IT) per Hour ft °F | BTU/(h·ft·°F) | Imperial | 1 BTU/(h·ft·°F) = 1.7307346664 W/(m·K) | — |
| BTU (th) per Hour ft °F | BTU(th)/(h·ft·°F) | Imperial | 1 BTU(th)/(h·ft·°F) = 1.7295772056 W/(m·K) | — |
| BTU (IT) per Second ft °F | BTU/(s·ft·°F) | Imperial | 1 BTU/(s·ft·°F) = 6,230.64479903 W/(m·K) | — |
| BTU (IT) inch per Hour ft² °F | BTU·in/(h·ft²·°F) | Imperial | 1 BTU·in/(h·ft²·°F) = 0.1442278889 W/(m·K) | btu·in/hr·ft²·°f to w/mk |
| BTU (IT) inch per Second ft² °F | BTU·in/(s·ft²·°F) | Imperial | 1 BTU·in/(s·ft²·°F) = 519.22039991 W/(m·K) | — |
| Calorie (th) per Second cm °C | cal(th)/(s·cm·°C) | Metric | 1 cal(th)/(s·cm·°C) = 418.4 W/(m·K) | — |
| Kilocalorie (th) per Hour m °C | kcal(th)/(h·m·°C) | Metric | 1 kcal(th)/(h·m·°C) = 1.16222222222 W/(m·K) | — |
| BTU (th) inch per Hour ft² °F | BTU(th)·in/(h·ft²·°F) | Imperial | 1 BTU(th)·in/(h·ft²·°F) = 0.1441314338 W/(m·K) | — |
| BTU (th) inch per Second ft² °F | BTU(th)·in/(s·ft²·°F) | Imperial | 1 BTU(th)·in/(s·ft²·°F) = 518.873161658 W/(m·K) | — |
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Frequently asked questions
What is the base unit for thermal conductivity?
Thermal Conductivity conversions on this site are calculated against the watt per meter kelvin (W/(m·K)).
Which thermal conductivity units can I convert?
You can convert between 15 units, including watt per meter kelvin, watt per centimeter °c, kilowatt per meter kelvin, milliwatt per meter kelvin, and more.
Where is thermal conductivity conversion useful?
It is commonly needed when insulation selection, heat-sink design, and building energy modelling.
Does this converter mix measurement systems?
The converter supports SI, Metric, Imperial units and keeps their exact definitions separate so results stay accurate.
Related categories
Conversion factors are based on internationally agreed unit definitions. See our methodology and sources for details on how these values are verified.