A combined transient and brief steady-state technique for measuring hemispherical total emissivity of electrical conductors at high temperatures: Application to tantalum

Abstract

A new method for measuring hemispherical total emissivity of electrically conducting materials at high temperatures (above 1500 K) using a feedback-controlled pulse-heating technique has been developed. The technique is based on rapid resistive self-heating of a solid cylindrical specimen in vacuum up to a preset high temperature in a short time (about 200 ms) and then keeping the specimen at that temperature under steady-state conditions for a brief period (about 500 ms) before switching off the current through the specimen. The specimen is maintained at constant temperature with a feedback control system which controls the current through the specimen. The computer-controlled feedback system operates a solid-state switch (composed of field-effect transistors). The sensing signal for the feedback is provided by a high-speed optical pyrometer. Hemispherical total emissivity is determined at the temperature plateau from the data on current through the specimen, the voltage drop across the middle portion of the specimen, and the specimen temperature using the steady-state heat balance equation based on the Stefan-Boltzmann law. The true temperature of the specimen is determined from the measured radiance temperature and the normal spectral emissivity: the latter is obtained from laser polarimetric measurements. The experimental quantities are measured and recorded every 0.2 ms with a 12-bit digital oscilloscope. To demonstrate the feasibility of the technique, experiments were conducted on a tantalum specimen in the temperature range 2000 to 2800 K. The results on hemispherical total emissivity are presented and are compared with the data given in the literature.