Transient interferometric technique for measuring thermal expansion at high temperatures: Thermal expansion of tantalum in the range 1500?3200 K

Abstract

The design and operational characteristics of an interferometric technique for measuring thermal expansion of metals between room temperature and temperatures in the range 1500 K to their melting points are described. The basic method involves rapidly heating the specimen from room temperature to temperatures above 1500 K in less than 1 s by the passage of an electrical current pulse through it, and simultaneously measuring the specimen expansion by the shift in the fringe pattern produced by a Michelson-type polarized beam interferometer and the specimen temperature by means of a high-speed photoelectric pyrometer. Measurements of linear thermal expansion of tantalum in the temperature range 1500–3200 K are also described. The results are expressed by the relation: $$\begin{gathered} (l - l_0 )/l_0 = 5.141{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{4}}} + 1.445{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{6}}} T + 4.160{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{9}}} T^2 \hfill \\ {\text{ }} - 1.309{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{12}}} T^3 + 1.901{\text{ x 10}}^{ - {\text{16}}} T^4 \hfill \\ \end{gathered}$$ where T is in K and l0 is the specimen length at 20°C. The maximum error in the reported values of thermal expansion is estimated to be about 1% at 2000 K and not more than 2% at 3000 K.