This paper is concerned with the thermoelastic behaviors of an elastic medium with variable thermal material properties. The problem is in the context of fractional order heat conduction. The governing equations with variable thermal properties were established by means of the fractional order calculus. The problem of a half-space formed of an elastic medium with variable thermal material properties was solved, and asymptotic solutions induced by a sudden temperature rise on the boundary were obtained by applying an asymptotic approach. The propagations of thermoelastic wave and thermal wave, as well as the distributions of displacement, temperature and stresses were obtained and plotted. Variations in the distributions with different values of fractional order parameter were discussed. The results were compared with those obtained from the case of constant material properties to evaluate the effects of variable material properties on thermoelastic behaviors.
