Transition-metal pentatellurides (HfTe_(5) and ZrTe_(5)) exhibit a promising power factor (electronic properties) for possible use as a thermoelectric material. For complete characterization of these crystals, thermal conductivity measurements are necessary. In this letter, we report measurements of the thermal conductivity for this group of materials using the parallel thermal conductance technique which is well adapted for needle-like samples. Thermal conductivity is presented as a function of temperature and composition of the pentatelluride solid solution Hf_(x)Zr_(1-x)Te_(5) with 0≤x≤1 in which the magnitude of the room temperature thermal conductivity varies from 5 to 8 W/(m K). Dependence on the cross-sectional area and possible size effects (or sample quality) is also presented and discussed. These results also indicate the importance of sample quality on the low-temperature thermal conductance maximum λ_(max).
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