The fast pulse-heating method provides a possibility to investigate thermophysical properties in the liquid state of electrically conducting materials in terms of a containerless measurement technique. Thereby wire-shaped specimens are rapidly heated by the passage of a large current pulse. This leads to heating rates of 10(8) K/s and an experimental duration of typically 50 Its. In addition to pure elements, multicomponent alloys of industrial relevance and more simple alloys like Ni8OCr20 are in our focus of interest. Measured results of specific enthalpy, specific electrical resistivity and density of Ni80Cr20 are presented as a function of temperature as well as the derived quantities heat capacity, heat of fusion, thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity. The composition of Ni80Cr20 is between pure nickel and highly alloyed materials. Therefore, its properties are compared to pure nickel and to Inconel 718 which has more than ten constituents and approximately 53% nickel and 18% chromium. Resistivity results show not only the intermediate position of the Ni80Cr20 alloy but also that an alloy can be quite different from the average of its constituents. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.