Abstract. Au/Pt thermocouples are considered to be an alternative to High Temperature Standard Platinum Resistance Thermometers (HTSPRTs) for realizing temperatures according to the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) in the temperature range between aluminium (660.323• C) and silver (961.78• C). The original aim of this work was to develop and to validate a new reference function for Au/Pt thermocouples which reflects the properties of presently commercially available Au and Pt wires. The thermoelectric properties of 16 Au/Pt thermocouples constructed at different National Metrological Institutes by using wires from different suppliers and 4 commercially available Au/Pt thermocouples were investigated. Most of them exhibit significant deviations from the current reference function of Au/Pt thermocouples caused by the poor performance of the Au-wires available. Thermoelectric homogeneity was investigated by measuring immersion profiles during freezes at the freezing point of silver and in liquid baths. The thermoelectric inhomogeneities were found to be one order of magnitude larger than those of Au/Pt thermocouples of the Standard Reference Material (SRM ) 1749. The improvement of the annealing procedure of the gold wires is a key process to achieve thermoelectric homogeneities in the order of only about (2-3) mK, sufficient to replace the impracticable HTSPRTs as interpolation instruments of the ITS-90. Comparison measurements of some of the Au/Pt thermocouples against a HTSPRT and an absolutely calibrated radiation thermometer were performed and exhibit agreements within the expanded measurement uncertainties. It has been found that the current reference function of Au/Pt thermocouples reflects adequately the thermoelectric properties of currently available Au/Pt thermocouples.
The paper describes the metrological characterization of the highly stable Pt-40%Rh/Pt-6%Rh thermocouples to determine their reference function in the temperature range between 0 °C and 1769 °C. The preparation of the Pt-40%Rh/Pt-6%Rh thermocouples is described, as well as the measurement procedures and the measurement results of comparison and fixed point measurements for the determination of the reference function with low uncertainties.
Mineral insulated metal sheathed (MIMS) base metal thermocouples experience thermoelectric drift over their lifetime caused by use at high temperatures and metallurgical changes, causing spurious measurement errors. CCPI Europe Limited and University of Cambridge have designed a MIMS thermocouple with an additional inner sheath, in order to protect the thermoelements from the effects that cause thermoelectric drift. The performance of these dual-wall thermocouples and conventional type N and type K thermocouples are assessed at six different National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) using two different testing regimes: isothermal testing at 1200 °C, and thermal cycling tests between 300 °C and 1150 °C. The investigation demonstrates that in both testing regimes, the type N dual-wall thermocouples showed a significantly reduced thermoelectric drift by about a factor of three compared to the conventional thermocouples. There was no significant difference between the type K dual-wall and conventional type K thermocouples in the isothermal tests, and the type K dual-wall thermocouples showed greater drift than the conventional thermocouples in the thermal cycling tests, but the conventional type K thermocouples were less robust than the dual-wall type K thermocouples. The results presented in this paper represent an impartial assessment of the thermoelectric stability of both dual-wall thermocouples and conventional thermocouples, which may provide assurance to potential users.
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