Optical spectroscopy of molten fluorides: Methods, electronic and vibrational data, structural interpretation, and relevance to radiative heat transfer

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To help address the need for predicting radiative heat transfer (RHT) behavior of molten salts, we conducted a comprehensive review of methods and data from optical spectroscopic measurements on molten fluoride salts. Transmittance, reflectance, and trans-reflectance experimental methods are discussed, along with the corresponding data reduction methodology and the limitations of each technique. Optical spectroscopy is a convenient indirect probe for changes in structural parameters with temperature and composition. Electronic and vibrational absorption data for transition-metal, lanthanide, and actinide solutes and vibrational absorption data for alkali and alkaline earth fluoride solvents are compiled, and the corresponding structural interpretation is discussed and compared with other experimental and theoretical work. We find that solvent and solute vibrational absorption can be significant in the mid-infrared, resulting in near-infrared edges of significance to RHT. Extrapolation and averaging of existing edge data leads to estimated gray absorption coefficient values at 700 ˚C of 546 m−1 for FLiBe and 276 m−1 for FLiNaK, both within the range of 1 – 6000 m−1 identified to be of engineering relevance for radiative heat transfer analysis.