Pyrometer Research Articles

Fiber-optical method of pyrometric measurement of melts temperature

There is a scientific problem of non-contact measurement of the temperature of metal melts now. The problem is related to the need to achieve the specified measurement errors in conditions of uncertainty of the blackness coefficients of the radiating surfaces. The aim of this work is to substantiate the new method of measurement in which the influence of the blackness coefficient is eliminated. The task consisted in calculating the design and material of special crucible placed in the molten metal, which is an emitter in the form of blackbody (BB). The methods are based on the classical concepts of thermal radiation and calculations based on the Planck function. To solve the problem, the geometry of the crucible was calculated on the basis of the Goofy method which forms the emitter of a blackbody at the immersed in the melt. The paper describes the pyrometric device based on fiber optic pyrometer for temperature measurement of melts, which implements the proposed method of measurement using a special crucible. The emitter is formed by the melt in this crucible, the temperature within which is measured by means of fiber optic pyrometer. Based on the results of experimental studies, the radiation coefficient ε′ > 0.999, which confirms the theoretical and computational justification is given in the article

Investigation of 17-4PH steel microstructure and conditions of elevated temperature forming of turbine engine strut

In this paper, the warm forming process of a turbine engine strut made of 17-4PH (precipitation hardening) stainless steel is investigated. The blank is heated to a desired temperature using an industrial induction heater. The temperature value of the blank was measured using thermocouples and a pyrometer. The forming process at elevated temperatures is realized for a wide range of heating temperatures of 20–800°C. The effect of overheating of the blank due to transfer of the blank from the heater to the stamping die using an industrial robot on the dimensional deviation of the drawpiece is considered. The geometry of the drawpieces was measured using an Atos 3D optical scanner (GOM, Germany). The smallest shape deviation of the drawpiece is obtained in the case of forming at 680°C. To study the change of temperature during the heating and forming process, thermocouples and an optical pyrometer were used. The analysis of the microstructure of the blank material at different temperatures indicates that plastic strain in the temperature range of 20–800°C causes an increase of banding of phase components of the microstructure. No evident effect of strain rate on the change of the 17-4PH steel microstructure is observed.

High temperature gasification of high heating-rate chars using a flat-flame reactor

The increasing interest in gasification and oxy-fuel combustion of biomass has heightened the need for a detailed understanding of char gasification in industrially relevant environments (i.e., high temperature and high-heating rate). Despite innumerable studies previously conducted on gasification of biomass, very few have focused on such conditions. Consequently, in this study the high-temperature gasification behaviors of biomass-derived chars were investigated using non-intrusive techniques. Two biomass chars produced at a heating rate of approximately 104K/s were subjected to two gasification environments and one oxidation environment in an entrained flow reactor equipped with an optical particle-sizing pyrometer. A coal char produced from a common U.S. low sulfur subbituminous coal was also studied for comparison. Both char and surrounding gas temperatures were precisely measured along the centerline of the furnace. Despite differences in the physical and chemical properties of the biomass chars, they exhibited rather similar reaction temperatures under all investigated conditions. On the other hand, a slightly lower particle temperature was observed in the case of coal char gasification, suggesting a higher gasification reactivity for the coal char. A comprehensive numerical model was applied to aid the understanding of the conversion of the investigated chars under gasification atmospheres. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was performed on the influence of four parameters (gas temperature, char diameter, char density, and steam concentration) on the carbon conversion rate. The results demonstrate that the gas temperature is the most important single variable influencing the gasification rate.

Ablation Behaviour and Microstructure of Carbon/Carbon and Hybrid Carbon/Carbon Composites Based on Plasma Torch Heating

The ablation properties and morphologies of two kinds of fine Fine-woven pierced composites materials, carbon/carbon (C/C) and hybrid C/C with tungsten (W) filaments in z directional carbon fibre bundles, were investigated. A plasma torch was used to explore the ablative characteristics in terms of linear/bulk ablation rate and microscopic pattern of ablation. Surface and in-depth temperatures during ablation were measured by using optical pyrometers and thermocouples. The experimental results showed that the C/C composite presented the best ablation resistance performance, followed by the hybrid C/C composite, while that of graphite was the worst. It was found that the thermo-mechanical ablation resistance of carbon matrix is equal to that of carbon fibres. The existence of WC not only had a faster intrinsic ablation velocity, but also accelerated the ablation velocity of the carbon fibres and carbon matrix, and significantly improved the ablation velocity of the carbon fibres.

Development of ReFaST Pyrometer for Measuring Surface Temperature With Unknown Emissivity: Methodology, Implementation, and Validation

The accuracy of temperature measurement by optical pyrometer depends largely on the emissivity configuration. However, determination of emissivity is a hard task as it varies with wavelength, temperature, and physical state of the surface. In this paper, we propose a new type of pyrometer named Reflector with a Fast Switching Tube to measure surface temperature as well as emissivity. The invention is featured by a novel reflector equipped with a fast switching tube inside. The tube can be moved to make two measurements, one is to measure intrinsic radiation from the target, and the other is to measure intrinsic and multiple reflectance radiation; then, the emissivity and temperature are solved out simultaneously. For accuracy validation, we make a new type of thermocouple, namely, flat-type thermocouple and measure the surface of it. By measuring the thermocouple immediately, the temperature drop between the measured surface and the thermocouple can be avoided. The measurement difference is 1.0 °C on average compared with the flat-type thermocouple ranging from 600 °C to 900 °C. The measurement uncertainty is evaluated based on a Monte Carlo method, and the standard uncertainty is 1.4 °C at 750 °C.

Gasification of High Heating-rate Biomass-derived Chars at Elevated Temperatures

Abstract In this study, gasification behavior of high heating-rate chars were investigated using an entrained flow reactor with an optical particle-sizing pyrometer. Two biomass chars produced from forest residue and torrefied forest residue as well as one coal char produced from low sulfur Black Thunder subbituminous coal have been gasified at temperature over 1700 K. Both the char surface temperatures and surrounding gas temperatures were precisely measured. Despite large discrepancies in constituents, the two biomass chars showed rather similar surface temperatures at the tested conditions. However, a slight lower surface temperature was obtained by the coal char gasification. A comprehensive model was also applied to aid understanding of the conversion process of char gasification. One set of intrinsic kinetic parameters for both the heterogonous water-gas reaction and the Boudouard reaction were found to effectively capture the experimental data at the two investigated conditions.

Development of a CCD-based pyrometer for surface temperature measurement of casting billets

In order to achieve high accuracy and good stability of temperature measurement results, an online vision-based temperature field measurement system for continuous casting billets is developed instead of the conventional single-point radiation pyrometer in this paper. This system is a hybrid temperature measurement system which consists of a monochrome array CCD camera with high resolution and a single spot colorimetric thermometer simultaneously. In this system, a narrow-band spectrum radiation temperature measurement model is established for the optical CCD-based pyrometer system, and the non-uniformity of the temperature field measurement due to the inter-element sensitivity deviations of the CCD-array detector and photometric distortion caused by the vignetting in the optical system is analyzed in detail and compensated. Furthermore, in order to eliminate the temperature fluctuation caused by the stripped iron oxide scale on billets, a temperature field reconstruction approach, which took full advantage of the high resolution characteristic of CCD and the distribution character of the surface temperature field of billets, is introduced in this system. Meanwhile, based on the narrow band spectral thermometry theory, the spot temperature measured by the colorimetric thermometer is used to correct the temperature field measured by the CCD camera on-line so as to reduce the temperature measurement error caused by the inconclusive absolute emissivity of different grades of steel and the interference of industrial dust. Currently, the system has been successfully applied and verified in some continuous casting production lines. Industrial trials indicate that the system could effectively eliminate false temperature variation caused by striped iron oxide scale and provide information about changes of processing parameters in the continuous casting production line in real time.

Effective Spectral Emissivity of Gas Turbine Blades for Optical Pyrometry

Turbine blade temperature measurements are important for monitoring the turbine engine performance to protect the hot components from damage due to excess temperatures. However, the reflected radiation from the blades and the surrounding environment complicate the blade temperature measurements by optical pyrometers. This study characterizes the effect of the reflected radiation on the effective spectral emissivity of a three-dimensional turbine blade in a confined turbine space for optical pyrometry temperature measurements. The effective spectral emissivity distribution on a three-dimensional blade was numerically determined for various wavelengths (0.8–15.0 μm) and actual blade surface emissivities for a specified turbine blade model. When the actual spectral emissivity of the blade surface is assumed to be 0.5, the effective spectral emissivity varies from 0.5 to 0.538 at the longer wavelength of 10.0 μm and further increases from 0.5 to 1.396 at the shorter wavelength of 0.9 μm. The results show that the effective emissivity distributions at shorter wavelengths differ greatly from those at longer wavelengths. There are also obvious differences between the effective spectral emissivity and the actual surface emissivity at shorter wavelengths. The effect of the effective emissivity on the temperature measurement accuracy, when using the optical pyrometry, was also investigated for various wavelengths (0.8–15.0 μm). The results show that the radiation reflected from the blades has less effect on the temperature measurements than on the effective emissivity, especially at the shorter wavelengths of 0.8–3.0 μm. However, the temperature measurements still need to be corrected using the effective spectral emissivity to improve the temperature calculation accuracy. This analysis provides guidelines for choosing the optimum measurement wavelengths for optical pyrometry in turbine engines.

Laser-induced damage threshold of silicon under combined millisecond and nanosecond laser irradiation

The laser–silicon interaction process was investigated with the superposed radiation of two pulsed Nd:YAG lasers. A pulse duration of 1 millisecond (ms) was superposed by 7 nanosecond (ns) pulses, creating a combined pulse laser (CPL). The time-resolved surface temperature of silicon was measured by an infrared radiation pyrometer. The melting thresholds of silicon were attained for a single ms laser and a CPL by infrared radiometry and time-resolved reflectance. The concept of threshold boundary was proposed, and a fitted curve of threshold boundary was obtained. An axisymmetric model was established for laser heating of silicon. The transient temperature fields were obtained for single ms laser and CPL irradiation using finite element analysis. The numerical results were validated experimentally, and an obvious decrease in melting threshold was found under CPL irradiation. That is attributed to pre-heating by the ms laser and the surface damage caused by the ns laser.

Review and progress in the study of the properties of warm dense matter

Warm dense matter (WDM) belongs to a part of high energy density physics, which includes both extensive and rich physics phenomena. It is an important state of the evolution and presence of matters in inertial confinement fusion (ICF), heavy-ion fusion, Z-pinch processes and so on. In particular, thermodynamic, optical, and radiated characteristic of warm dense matter plays an important role in determining for the macro fluid movement of matter and determining for the energy transportation and transfer in the interactions of radiated field with matter in the evolution process. Therefore, further investigation of the properties of warm dense matter and precision improvements on its related parameters, such as equations of state and radiation transportation, are of science significant and applied background in many research fields such as ICF, Z-pinch, earth’s and planetary interior structure. The important research progress in the techniques of production, diagnostics, and simulation of warm dense matter under the laboratory conditions are briefly introduced and reviewed. The topics on the techniques of creating WDM were discussed, including experimental capabilities and facilities enabling the synthesis and confinement of warm dense states. These experimental capabilities include energetic materials, short pulse and high-energy-density lasers, ion beams, static high-pressure diamond-anvil cells, radiation- synchrotron sources, and mechanical impact techniques such as gas-gun launchers. Advanced diagnostics required for the characterization and interrogation of warm dense states were employ in these experiments accordingly. A general review on the theoretical approaches and computational capabilities enabling the prediction of the thermodynamic properties of matter in the warm dense regime were given. These approaches include quantum-based finite-temperature methods based on density functional theory, finite-temperature average-atom method, molecular dynamics, and various plasma physics-based theoretical approaches. In our National Key Laboratory for Shock Wave and Detonation Physics (LSD), warm dense matter was created by multiple shock reverberation technique. The multi-shock compressed states were directly determined by the multi-wavelength channel optical transience radiance pyrometry (MCOP), Doppler pins system (DPS), streak optical pyrometer (SOP), and spectrum analyser. The gas sample is confined between a 304 steel baseplate at the impact end and a composite window at the other end. The strong plain shock wave was produced using the flyer plate impact accelerated up to about several km/s by a two-stage light gas gun on the target baseplate and introduced into the plenum gas sample, which was pre-compressed from environmental pressure to 20–40 MPa. The optical radiation histories recorded by two sets of MCOPs were used to determine shock velocity. Simultaneously, the particle velocity profiles of gas sample-window interface were measured with four DPSs and the time-resolved spectrum was determined by SOP. The states of multi-shock compression gas sample were determined from the measured shock velocities combining the particle velocity profiles. The multi-shock temperatures were obtained from the measured radiation histories and spectrum of warm dense matter. We performed the experiments on warm dense helium, deuterium, argon, and xenon to reach to above one hundred GPa. The experimental results are used to validate our developed self-consistent fluid variational theoretical model, to check the existing WDM theoretical model, and to create new theoretical ones. Finally, some suggestions, summary, and outlook in the future development tendency and direction of warm dense matter are presented.

Liquid-phase assisted spark-plasma sintering of SiC nanoceramics and their nanocomposites with carbon nanotubes

The appropriate conditions for liquid-phase assisted spark-plasma sintering (SPS) were identified for the fabrication of both SiC nanoceramics and their nanocomposites with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). A parametric study of the nanoceramics and nanocomposites with a given type of CNTs showed that the SPS temperature (as measured by the radial optical pyrometer) optimizing their densification, nanograin size, and mechanical properties is 1700°C (soaking for a few minutes), below which there is incomplete densification, and above which there is obvious grain growth with no benefit in hardness or toughness in the case of the nanoceramics, and prejudicial to both properties in the case of the nanocomposites due to the CNT degradation. It was also shown that the nanocomposites have smaller nanograins than their nanoceramic counterparts, and are softer but tougher. Extension to nanocomposites with different types of CNTs confirmed these trends, and showed that the CNT features do not condition the densification, microstructure or mechanical properties of these nanocomposites.

Microwave-Based Chemical Synthesis of Co-Alloyed Nd-Fe-B Hard Magnetic Powders

Modern high-energy-product permanent magnets derive their superior properties from nanoscale interactions, which are a sensitive function of the crystal size. Further property improvements require novel synthesis techniques to control the crystal size. Hence, we report a cost-effective and facile technique, i.e., microwave-based synthesis, to produce Co-alloyed Nd-Fe-B-based magnetic nanostructured powder. Dedicated microwave synthesis equipment with an optical pyrometer attachment was used to synthesize mixed metal oxides, followed by reduction diffusion to produce Nd-Fe-Co-B magnetic nanoparticles. Nanosized mixed oxide powders were formed in a single-step combustion after ignition, which was completed within a few seconds. In the reduction diffusion process, a two-step reaction was observed. Co and Fe oxides were first reduced to Fe and Co as the temperature reached $350\, ^\circ {\text{C}}$ . Nd oxide was partially reduced to ${\text{NdH}}_{\text{2}}$ at ${350\, ^\circ \text{C}}$ and finally to Nd when the temperature reached ${740\, ^\circ \text{C}}$ , when the desired ${\text{Nd}}_{\text{2}}{\text{(Fe,Co)}}_{\text{14}}{\text{B}}$ phase was also obtained. This reaction sequence matched thermodynamic calculations. Microwave power played a crucial role in controlling combustion temperature, crystal size, and coercivity of the ${\text{Nd}}_{\text{2}}{\text{(Fe,Co)}}_{\text{14}}{\text{B}}$ nanoparticles. The coercivity of these nanoparticles increased from 4.6kOe to 8kOe as the mean crystal size increased from 20 to 60nm. The saturation magnetization was 106emug.

Absolute calibration of the OMEGA streaked optical pyrometer for temperature measurements of compressed materials.

Experiments in high-energy-density physics often use optical pyrometry to determine temperatures of dynamically compressed materials. In combination with simultaneous shock-velocity and optical-reflectivity measurements using velocity interferometry, these experiments provide accurate equation-of-state data at extreme pressures (P > 1 Mbar) and temperatures (T > 0.5 eV). This paper reports on the absolute calibration of the streaked optical pyrometer (SOP) at the Omega Laser Facility. The wavelength-dependent system response was determined by measuring the optical emission from a National Institute of Standards and Technology-traceable tungsten-filament lamp through various narrowband (40-nm-wide) filters. The integrated signal over the SOP's ∼250-nm operating range is then related to that of a blackbody radiator using the calibrated response. We present a simple closed-form equation for the brightness temperature as a function of streak-camera signal derived from this calibration. Error estimates indicate that brightness temperature can be inferred to a precision of <5%.

LED-based Vis-NIR spectrally tunable light source - the optimization algorithm

A novel numerical method for calculating the contributions of individual diodes in a set of light emitting diodes (LEDs), aimed at simulating a blackbody radiation source, is examined. The intended purpose of the light source is to enable calibration of various types of optical sensors, particularly optical radiation pyrometers in the spectral range from 700 nm to 1070 nm. This numerical method is used to determine and optimize the intensity coefficients of individual LEDs that contribute to the overall spectral distribution. The method was proven for known spectral distributions: “flat” spectrum, International Commission on Illumination (CIE) standard daylight illuminant D65 spectrum, Hydrargyrum Medium-arc Iodide (HMI) High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamp, and finally blackbody radiation spectra at various temperatures. The method enables achieving a broad range of continuous spectral distributions and compares favorably with other methods proposed in the literature.

Heat Flow and Solidification Modeling of Industrial Scale, Ingot Casting Operation

A model, based on the concept of effective thermal conductivity, was developed to study thermal fields and the resultant solidification behavior of large, round, industrial size ingots. In this, flow and turbulence phenomena during mold filling as well as subsequent solidification were not modeled explicitly but their influence was accounted for by artificially raising the thermal conductivity of solidifying steel. Thus, a conduction like equation embodying a conjugate approach was applied to simultaneously predict the evolution of temperature fields in the mold as well as in the solidifying ingot following teeming. Prior to comparing model predictions against industrial scale measurements, sensitivity of calculations to grid size, time step height, convergence criterion etc. were rigorously assessed. Similarly, modeling of interfacial resistance, chemical reactions and heat effects in the hot top as well as their influence on predicted results were evaluated computationally. Embodying mixed thermal boundary conditions (free convection + radiation) at the mold wall, temperature fields during solidification of two different industrial large ingots were predicted numerically. Parallely, mold wall temperature was monitored as a function of time and surface temperature of ingot was measured at the instant of mold stripping using hand held, radiation pyrometers. Incorporating relevant operating conditions (viz., mold dimensions and size, ingot and hot top dimensions and material, initial mold and liquid temperature etc.) into the calculation scheme, predictions were made via a computational procedure developed in-house and results thus obtained were compared against equivalent industrial scale measurements. Very reasonable agreement between the two was demonstrated.

Multichannel emission spectrometer for high dynamic range optical pyrometry of shock-driven materials

An emission spectrometer (450-850 nm) using a high-throughput, high numerical aperture (N.A. = 0.3) prism spectrograph with stepped fiberoptic coupling, 32 fast photomultipliers and thirty-two 1.25 GHz digitizers is described. The spectrometer can capture single-shot events with a high dynamic range in amplitude and time (nanoseconds to milliseconds or longer). Methods to calibrate the spectrometer and verify its performance and accuracy are described. When a reference thermal source is used for calibration, the spectrometer can function as a fast optical pyrometer. Applications of the spectrometer are illustrated by using it to capture single-shot emission transients from energetic materials or reactive materials initiated by km⋅s-1 impacts with laser-driven flyer plates. A log (time) data analysis method is used to visualize multiple kinetic processes resulting from impact initiation of HMX (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine) or a Zr/CuO nanolaminate thermite. Using a gray body algorithm to interpret the spectral radiance from shocked HMX, a time history of temperature and emissivity was obtained, which could be used to investigate HMX hot spot dynamics. Finally, two examples are presented showing how the spectrometer can avoid temperature determination errors in systems where thermal emission is accompanied by atomic or molecular emission lines.

Flash characteristics of plasma induced by hypervelocity impact

Using a two-stage light gas gun, a series of hypervelocity impact experiments was conducted in which 6.4-mm-diameter spherical 2024-aluminum projectiles impact 23-mm-thick targets made of the same material at velocities of 5.0, 5.6, and 6.3 km/s. Both an optical pyrometer composed of six photomultiplier tubes and a spectrograph were used to measure the flash of the plasma during hypervelocity impact. Experimental results show that, at a projectile velocity of 6.3 km/s, the strong flash lasted about 10 μs and reached a temperature of 4300 K. Based on the known emission lines of AL I, spectral methods can provide the plasma electron temperature. An electron-temperature comparison between experiment and theoretical calculation indicates that single ionization and secondary ionization are the two main ionizing modes at velocities 5.0–6.3 km/s.

Aerodynamic levitator for in situ x-ray structure measurements on high temperature and molten nuclear fuel materials.

An aerodynamic levitator with carbon dioxide laser beam heating was integrated with a hermetically sealed controlled atmosphere chamber and sample handling mechanism. The system enabled containment of radioactive samples and control of the process atmosphere chemistry. The chamber was typically operated at a pressure of approximately 0.9 bars to ensure containment of the materials being processed. Samples 2.5-3 mm in diameter were levitated in flowing gas to achieve containerless conditions. Levitated samples were heated to temperatures of up to 3500 °C with a partially focused carbon dioxide laser beam. Sample temperature was measured using an optical pyrometer. The sample environment was integrated with a high energy (100 keV) x-ray synchrotron beamline to enable in situ structure measurements to be made on levitated samples as they were heated, melted, and supercooled. The system was controlled from outside the x-ray beamline hutch by using a LabVIEW program. Measurements have been made on hot solid and molten uranium dioxide and binary uranium dioxide-zirconium dioxide compositions.

Plasma diagnosis as a tool for the determination of the parameters of electron beam evaporation and sources of ionization

The atomic vapor generated by electron beam heating is partially ionized due to atom–atom collisions (Saha ionization) and electron impact ionization, which depend upon the source temperature and area of evaporation as compared to the area of electron beam bombardment on the target. When electron beam evaporation is carried out by inserting the target inside an insulating liner to reduce conductive heat loss, it is expected that the area of evaporation becomes significantly more than the area of electron beam bombardment on the target, resulting in reduced electron impact ionization. To assess this effect and to quantify the parameters of evaporation, such as temperature and area of evaporation, we have carried out experiments using zirconium, tin and aluminum as a target. By measuring the ion content using a Langmuir probe, in addition to measuring the atomic vapor flux at a specific height, and by combining the experimental data with theoretical expressions, we have established a method for simultaneously inferring the source temperature, evaporation area and ion fraction. This assumes significance because the temperature cannot be reliably measured by an optical pyrometer due to the wavelength dependent source emissivity and reflectivity of thin film mirrors. In addition, it also cannot be inferred from only the atomic flux data at a certain height as the area of evaporation is unknown (it can be much more than the area of electron bombardment, especially when the target is placed in a liner). Finally, the reason for the lower observed electron temperatures of the plasma for all the three cases is found to be the energy loss due to electron impact excitation of the atomic vapor during its expansion from the source.

Optical pyrometer based on the gas phase photoacoustic effect.

A photoacoustic cell containing an infrared active gas and equipped with a pair of infrared transmitting windows that alternately views two bodies at different temperatures through a pair of chopping wheels acts as a differential detector of the radiation emitted by the two bodies. A theory for the photoacoustic signal shows that the device acts to monitor the difference in the incidances between the two bodies integrated over the absorptions of the gas in the cell. Experiments are reported showing that the response of the pyrometer depends on the relative temperatures of heated bodies, the absorption coefficient of the gas in the cell, and the modulation frequency of the chopping wheels. The instrument is shown to be a sensitive detector of a null in the integrated incidance of the two bodies.