Thermal Conductivity of a Molecular Crystal with Rotational Degrees of Freedom: Orientational Defect Scattering

Measurements of thermal conductivity of solid methane-deuteromethane solutions at equilibrium vapor pressure in the temperature range 1.2÷20 K are reported. The obtained dependences of thermal conductivity on temperature and concentration can be explained qualitatively assuming that the dominant mechanism of phonon scattering is connected with the interaction of phonons with the rotational motion of the molecules in all of the three orientational phases of the CH4-CD4 system. The contribution of the orientational defect scattering to the thermal conductivity is discussed in frame of the model of local changes in the moments of inertia of molecules.