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FUNDAMENTALS OF THERMOMETRY PART VIII

RADIATION THERMOMETRY AND CALIBRATION

by Henry E. Sostmann and Philip D. Metz

FIG. 1 - THE FIRST OPTICAL PYROMETER.

(Please see Footnote 1)

The International Temperature Scale of 1990 (m-90) defines temperature in

terms of constants of nature in which certain pure materials are in phase equilib-
rium (liquid-solid, liquid-vapor, solid-liquid-vapor), and specified interpolation
instruments. The freezing points (or melting points of pure metals are examples of
such phase equilibria, during which state changes and temperature remains invari-
ant. Between 0.01 “C (the triple point of water) and 961.78”C (the freezing point of
silver) the specified interpolation device is a high-temperature platinum resistance
thermometer (HTSPRD calibrated at specified fixed points. Above 961.78”C the
specified interpolation device is a radiation thermometer obeying Planck’s Law,
calibrated at one of the following freezing points: silver, gold or copper.

Plan&s Law follows:

LA(Tsd / LA IT&)1 Eq. 1

= exp [cz /A T&X)1-1 / exp Icz /A T&l

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 75

where LA (Tse) and LA [T&X)] are the spectral concentrations of the radiance of a
blackbody at wavelength d in vacuum at Tso and Tse(X) respectively, cz = 0.014388
m.K, and T&X) may be the freezing point of silver, gold or copper.

(Plan&s Law derives from the earlier Wien Law for the distribution of en-
ergy in the emission spectrum of a blackbody. Plan&s modification was simply to
add the -1. However in attempting to explain why a much better agreement with
experimental data was thus obtained, it was necessary for him to invent the quan-
tum theory (that all electromagnetic waves can exist only as discrete packages or
quanta) for which discovery he received the Nobel Prize in 1918).

In the design of the Scale, the silver point was chosen as the transition point
between the HTSPRT and the radiation thermometer because 961 o was the practi-
cal upper limit for the platinum thermometer, not because it was the lower limit for
the radiation thermometer. Indeed, all surfaces at temperatures above zero abso-
lute (0 K) emit and absorb some radiant energy. That this energy is not visible to us
until high temperatures are reached is due to the limitation of the human eye to the
electromagnetic spectrum between 0.4 pm and 0.7 pm (longer wavelengths go into
the infra-red; shorter into the ultra-violet). As temperature increases, peak radiance
shifts toward shorter wavelengths. At lower temperatures, the power emitted by the
radiating blackbody is low; at room temperature is 470 W per square meter, at
5OO’C 20 kW, at 1000°C 150 kW, and at 2500°C 3.4 MW (for reference, the full
sun radiates 77 MW). Low power at low temperature limits the accuracy and re-
peatabilty of radiation thermometers; at high temperatures, other errors and un-
certainties are important.

It is entirely realistic, and often useful, to employ radiation thermometers in

the SPRT range as low as 0°C. An advantage, in some applications, is that radiation
thermometers do not make physical contact with the device whose temperature is
to be measured, and therefore do not perturb the measurement by adding heat to
or subtracting heat from the source via a stem effect. Radiation methods are also
useful where the object whose temperature is to be measured involves some haz-
ard; for example, risk of explosion, nuclear reaction processes. Remote measure-
ments are possible which could be made by no other means, for example, of the
temperature of stars (although this latter requires highly specialized apparatus).

Cells for realizing the freezing points for the calibration of SPRTs between
the triple point of water and the silver point are well understood, well character-
ized, and in common use. With appropriate equipment and techniques, the ITS-90
temperatures can be realized within fractions of a millikelvin (O.OOl°C) at the
lower temperatures and several millikelvins at the higher temperatures.

ISO’ECH JOURNAL OF ‘IRERMOmY, VOL. 6 NO. 2 (1995)

 Radiation thermometers, too, need to be calibrated, and the traditional
deep-immersion cells for calibrating contact (immersion) thermometers can’t be
used. A radiation thermometer must be calibrated against a radiant source. It is
worth noting that, unlike the contact thermometer where the thermometer (a coil
of platinum wire, or a junction of dissimilar metals) is the sensor, the sensor in a
radiation temperature measurement is the radiant source itself, where temperature
is transduced into intensity of radiation. Indeed, radiation measurements are not
analogs of thermodynamics but are thermodynamic directly.

Radiation thermometers are calibrated against radiating blackbodies. A

blackbody is essentially a surface which emits and absorbs radiant energy identi-
cally. Obviously such a surface can be only approximated.

An ideal surface can be thought of as the interior of a hollow sphere, or an-

other closed geometric shape, made of an opaque material. When the sphere is
externally heated, radiant energy excited internally cannot escape. In this ideal
condition it is impossible to observe the internal energy; such an ideal blackbody is
an entirely closed universe, as alien and private as the interior of an unbroken egg,
To make a useful approximation of a blackbody, a tiny aperture is cut, through
which some optical instrument may observe the interior. If the design geometry is
proper, the energy loss due to this compromise is inconsiderable; fractions of a
percent.

All real sources reflect, transmit and absorb radiant energy. For an ideal
source, the emissivity E = 1. For a source which also transmits (r) and absorbs (a)
energy:

&=l -z-a Eq. 2

The emissivity of real surfaces is usually far less than 1, and estimating the emissiv-
ity of the source is one of the real problems of radiation thermometry. Most pre-
sent-day pyrometers have a dial or index which can be set to the estimated emis-
sivity, to correct for its failure to be unity. The emissivity of some common surfaces
is shown in the Table on the next page.

A blackbody is a primary calibration source if it surrounded by, so that its

temperature is established by, an equilibrium constant-of-nature condition, such as
the freezing equilibrium of a pure metal. A primary blackbody configuration [21 is
shown in Fig. 2. The actual geometry can vary to the optimum for the specific tem-
perature. Such sources were employed in establishing the equilibrium temperatures
which are the basis of the high-temperature ITS-90, using as measuring instruments
highly sophisticated pyrometers such as that of NPL, shown in Fig. 3.

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FIG. 2: A PRIMARY BLACKBODY CONFIGURATION: (A) high-density purified graphite,

(B) pure metal (C) target upon which the pyrometer is sighted.

FIG 3: THE NPL PHOTOELECTRIC PYROMflER: (A) off-axis ellipsoidal mirror, (8) plane
mirror, (C) swinging mirror, (D) 0.75 mm diameter target aperture, (E) Sighting graticule, (F)
sector disc, CC) Sighting telescope CH) Sector traverse mechanism (1) EMI Type 9558 pho-
tomultiplier and amplifier (I) Interference filter 662 nm, (K) Neutral density filters. (After
Quinn, in Proceedings of the International School of Physics <Enrico Fermi>, Course
LXVIII, Metrology andFundamenfa/ Constaots, North Holland Publ. Co. 1980).

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MATERIAL TEMPERATURE, K
300 500 1200 1300 1600

Stainless steel .2s .55 .65

Stainless steel polished .16 .19
Ordinary steel .50
Ordinary steel, oxidized .80
Rough cast iron .90
Liquid cast iron -30
Asbestos cement .96
Alumina, 10 pm grain size .30 .18
Alumina, 100 pm grain size .50 .40
Carborundum .92 .82

Blackbody conditions can also be approximated by a plane surface, pro-

vided that the surface is properly configured [3]. For example, a flat graphite
surface which is scored into numerous pyramidal indentations having the proper
angles will approximate blackbody conditions because of the many surface-
internal reflections which confine the radiant energy. Fig. 4 shows such a
blackbody.

One novel (and patented) type of blackbody, which does not require either
a sensor, [41 a controller or an equilibrium of a pure substance, is controlled by an
integral gas-buffered heat pipe, which may be factory-set to a pressure to produce
one specific temperature [Fig. 5).

Thermometers for reading temperatures as radiant energy are often instru-

ments which make it possible to compare the brightness of the radiation source to
some standard, the brightness of which may be continuously varied. The most
common type of radiation thermometer contains an optical system which includes
in the optical path a wire, ribbon or lamp filament heated by a variable current and
superimposed upon the image of the radiating source. The radiating source is ob-
served via the optical system while the lamp filament current, and hence its bright-
ness, is varied until the brightnesses are equal, at which brightness the filament
seems to disappear. The calibration of the instrument consists in establishing a re-
lationship between temperature and the lamp excitation current. Such radiation in-
struments are said to be of the “extinction” type, because the appearance of the fil-
ament, as the brightnesses become equal, appears to be extinguished. Fig. 6 shows
the arrangement of such an instrument, and Fig. 7 shows the commercial
realization of it. Note, in particular, that a narrow band wave filter is located in the

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DETAIL OF RADIATING SURFACE

FIG. 4: A RADIATING SOURCE,WHOSE TEMPERATURE IS CONTROLLED BY A

FURNACE TEMPERATURE CONTROLLER: (A) furnace wall, (B) radiating scwce, (C)
control sensor pocket, (D) aperture

ISOTHERMAL
PART PkINCIPLEOFTHEHEATPIPESOURCE
h
KCEPTABLE j

=ilIu
“:RVARlATlON cl r

AMBIENT
TEMPERATURE

UPILLIARI
i
1 GAS
BUFFER
HEATIN OUT

FIG. 5: A SINGLE-TEMPERATURE RADIATING SOURCE WHOSE TEMPERATURE IS

CONTROLLED BY A GAS-BUFFERED HEAT PIPE

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 ea

FIG. 6: OPTICAL PATH OF A COMMERCIAL PYROMETER. (A) source, (f: objective lens,
(C) objective aperture, (D) absorption filter for temperatures above 13CWC, (E) pyrometer
lamp, (F) red filter, (G) microscope objective lens, (H) microscope aperture stop, (I) micro-
scope ocular, (I) eye, (K) instrument for measuring lamp current. (After NBS Monograph
41 ).

FIG 7: REALIZATION OF A COMMERCIAL PYROMETER: The arrangement of pyrometer

elements by Leeds and Northrup. This pyrometer does not include emissivity
compensation; most modern pyrometers do.

optical path. Simple radiation thermometers of this pattern, (“pyrometers”), may

depend upon the observer to note the point at which the image of the reference
filament brightness is equal to the brightness of the source, and disappears.
Obviously, this won’t work at lower temperatures where the radiance is at a
wavelength too long for the eye to see. More sophisticated “automatic” pyrometers
use a photodetector to detect the brightness null, or differential circuits involving
splitters, or calibrated linear photodiodes.

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How shall we calibrate, or assure the calibration of, our optical radiation
thermometers? For those radiation sources that are not heated by a thermometric
metal in liquid-solid equilibrium, but whose temperature is measured by an inte-
gral or inserted sensor, (a tiny thermocouple, or a very small industrial platinum re-
sistance sensor), it is necessary simply to assure the calibration of the contact sen-
sor. This can be done in conventional ways; by comparing the sensor, in an
isothermal bath, to a superior thermometer, or by calibrating the sensor against a
primary thermometris standard. The radiating source is then brought to a measured
steady-state temperature, the pyrometer sighted upon it, and a measurement made.
The process is repeated at several temperature within the range of interest.

Blackbodies that are heated by a pure metal in phase equilibrium (a fixed-

point blakbody) are used to calibrate radiation thermometers in a similar fashion.
However it is sometimes demanded to check the validity of the fixed-point source
itself.

“Calibration” of fixed point blackbodies is a misnomer, since the freezing

temperature of a pure metal is fundamental, and is superior to any instrument
which can be used to measure it. “Verification” of radiation cells could be made, at
substantial expense, by direct comparison with cells maintained at a National Lab-
oratory, such as NIST or NPL, using primary standard radiation thermometers, or
transferred from tungsten strip lamps which themselves have received a primary
calibration. (A tungsten strip lamp is a special lamp containing a strip of tungsten
sealed into a vacuum or a gas, and a transparent window through which a pyrom-
eter may see the strip. Primary radiation thermometry is used to establish the lamp
current vs. temperature characteristic of the lamp strip, which then is a secondary
calibration source. Such calibrators drift with time, and may require primary re-
calibration after 100 hours at temperature or so).

Isothermal Technology Ltd. has had many years of experience in the pro-
duction of metal freeze point cells for the calibration of immersion thermometers,
and has recently applied this experience to equivalent cells for calibrating radiation
thermometers. These cells, intended for use in lsotech dedicated furnaces, were de-
veloped with the cooperation of England’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL),
which established the validity of their equilibria. Metal phase-equilibrium fixed
point cells for use with radiation thermometers have a quite different geometry
from cells intended for the immersion of contact thermometers, and so cannot be
verified by SPRTs. However pure metals melt and freeze at temperatures which are
physical constants and independent of the geometry of the containment. Exhaus-
tive measurements with fine-wire thermocouples have found that the lsotech cells
designed for radiation thermometry have virtually unmeasurable equilibrium tem-
perature differences from cells intended for contact thermometers, and reproduce

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the ITS-90 temperatures.

The equilibrium temperature of a fixed-point source depends crucially upon

the purity of the metal. lsotech uses metals whose impurity fraction is less than 1
ppm. The containment5 for both immersion and radiation thermometer cells are
dense and highly purified graphite. No other elements are introduced.

The most practical, appropriate and sufficient guarantee of the accuracy of

the temperature produced at the freeze plateau is the purity of the metal in the cell.
lsotech guarantees and certifies this purity on its certificates, and estimates that the
temperature realized is within O.l”C of the ITS-90 value. (In fact, this is the only
certification made, and is the most reliable, since it does not depend upon a tem-
perature measurement). Verification of a cell means, essentially, proving that its
purity has not been impaired by contamination.

The technique for verifying the present purity of the metal in a blackbody
cell is similar to that for an immersion thermometer in a cell intended for
immersion instruments.

Assume, or establish by measurement, that the cell is at a temperature low

enough so that the metal is completely in the solid phase. Set the furnace con-
troller a few degrees (1 O”, perhaps; it is not critical) above the expected melt tem-
perature IS]. Melt the metal completely. To assure that the metal is molten,
monitor the emitted radiation with the pyrometer to observe (a) the temperature
rise to the melt plateau; (b) the melt plateau; a period of time during which there is
essentially no observable change in the indicated temperature (During this interval,
the energy which the furnace is pumping into the cell is spent in changing the
phase rather than raising the temperature; this is the latent heat of fusion). (c) the
temperature rise above the melt plateau of the molten metal. Hold the cell at the
molten temperature for some long period of time; ten to twelve hours is a good
number. The purpose of this dwell is allow any contaminants’or impurities to be
well distributed through the melt. Then turn the furnace off, and freeze the sample
as quickly as possible.

Set the furnace controller a few degrees above the anticipated melting tem-
perature of the metal (as it was determined in the last paragraph), monitoring the
temperature, as it rises, with the optical thermometer. At the beginning of the phase
change - when the metal begins to melt - the melt arrest is observed. When the
metal is completely molten, the temperature will resume its rise to the controller
setpoint. The rise to the melt arrest, the melt arrest plateau and the rise from the
plateau should all be recorded on a strip-chart recorder if the pyrometer has con-
nections for one, or, failing that, by hand, and then conveyed to a graphical plot.

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Freezing analysis can also provide useful information. To freeze the metal,
first assure that it is completely molten, by ascertaining that the metal temperature
has shown a rise above the melt plateau. Then reset the furnace controller to about
1°C below the melt plateau. Allow the furnace temperature to drift downward,
monitoring it all the while, until the downward drift stops. Some metals exhibit su-
percool; that is, the metal remains liquid at a temperature below the temperature at
which it would melt if it were in the solid state. Other metals exhibit very little su-
percool. If the metal does not supercool the temperature will stabilize on the freeze
plateau; if it does supercool, the temperature will rise to the freeze plateau. Con-
tinue to record the temperature until the freeze plateau terminates and the temper-
ature drops to he controller setting and plot this temperature profile as well.

Figure 8(a) shows the characteristic graphs of the melting behavior of metals
6N+ (better than 99.9999%) pure, 5N+ (better than 99.999%) pure and 5N
(99.999%) pure. If the metal is much less than 5N pure, there will be very little
recognizable plateau. Fig. 8(b) shows typical freezing behavior for metals of several
purities. Note in particular the slopes of the temperature drops after the freeze
plateau has been finished.

A - MELTING B - FREEZING

FIG 8: (A) typical melting curves of metals of three purities (8) typical freezing curves

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FOOTNOTES

[l I The first optical pyrometer. Objects which radiate within the visible portion of the spectrum
glow whiter and brighter as temperature increases. Experienced workers in high temperature indus-
tries can often estimate temperature by eye to *50°. This cartoon is from Heat and Temperature
Measurement, Robert L. W&w, @ 1950, Prentice-Hall, Inc

T COLOR

530 Dark blood red

570 Dark red
635 Dark cherry red
675 Medium cherry red
750 Cherry full red
850 Light, bright cherry red
900 Salmon, orange
950 Light salmon, orange
1000 Yellow
1180 Light yellow
1250 White

This Table supplied by The Vanadium Corporation.

[21 e.g., lsotech Model 970, 976, 982

13) e.g., lsotech Model 976 with lsotech “Hockey Puck” cells containing either Gallium (29.76”C),
lndium (156,6O”C), Tin (231.93”0, Zinc (419.53’0, or lsotech Model 970 with lsotech Model CC
cells containing either Indium, Tin, Zinc, Aluminum (662.32”C) or Silver (961.8”C)

141Isotech-Phillips Fixed Point Radiation Source, single temperature gas-buffered heat pipe; one
factory-set temperature between 500° and 1000°C.

151Closer control can be obtained if the furnace controllers are occasionally calibrated. This can
be done with little effort by using the metal fixed points themselves as reference.

(a) Set the furnace controller a few degrees below where your data indicates the melt temperature
should lie.

(b) Allow the system to come to thermal equilibrium at that setting. Monitor the temperature to
look for any thermal cycling. Note the controller setting and the mean indicated temperature.

ISOTECH JOURNAL OF THERMOMEIRY, VOL. 6 NO. 2 (1995)

 a5

(c) Reset the controller a few degrees higher than the expected melt temperature. Watch for the
melt arrest. Observe the melt plateau temperature as indicated by the instrument.

(d) At the end of the melt arrest, allow the temperature to rise until it stabilizes. When it is in equi-
librium, look for any thermal cycling. Note the controller setting and the mean indicated tempera-
ture.

(0 Using this notation:

C1, tl, the controller sening and temperature indication below the melt plateau

Cz, t2, the controller setting and temperature indication above the melt plateau

t), the temperature indicated by your instrument for the melt plateau.

The controller setting corresponding to the furnace temperature at the melt plateau
is then calculated:

cs(,np) = Cl * I& - Cl) I ctz 11)l ct3 - 1l)l Eq.3

For subsequent meItS or freezes, set the controller slightly above Cs(,,), (to melt) or below CS(mp)
(to freeze) or at a setting which assures that the peak furnace temperature when cycling is more
than t3 (to melt) or less than t3 (to freeze).

REFERENCES

(The following books in our library have been found particularly useful)

THE MEASUREMENT OF HIGH TEMPERATURES, G. K. Burgess, L. Le Chatelier, John Wiley &

Sons, New York, 1912. [This provides a fascinating view of the development of the optical
pyrometer (can you imagine a pyrometer in which the comparison light source was a kerosene
lamp<) but is of much more than historical interest. Burgess (of the NBS) and Le Chat&x were, of
course, towering figures in early thermometry.)

MEASUREMENT OF RADIANT ENERGY, ed. W. E. Forsythe, McGraw Hill Co, New York and
London, 1937. lDespite its age, this remains one of the classical works.]

FUNDAMENTALS OF TEMPERATURE, PRESSURE AND FLOW MEASUREMENTS, R. P. Benedict,

John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1969

RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATION: THEORY AND METHODS, C. L. Wyatt, Academic Press, New

ISOTECH JOURNAL OF THDMOMETRY, VOL. 6 NO. 2 0995)

 86
York, 1978
TEMPERATURE, T. J. Quinn, Academic Press, London and New York, 1983

THERMOMETRY, James F. Schooley, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1986

TRACEABLE TEMPERATURES, j. V. Nicholas, D. R. White, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1994
(reviewed in the lsofech journal of Thermometry, Vol. 6 No. 1, 1995

and for a view ol the curring edge and the developmenl of ITS-90

TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT 1975, Conference Series No. 26, The Institute of Physics (Great
Britain), London, 1975

TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT (Proceedings of international symposium, Beijing 1986), China

Academic Publishers, Beijing, 1986

ISOTECH JOURNAL OF THERMOMETRY, VOL. 6 NO. 2 (1995)

 ABOUT THE AUTHORS
PHILIP D. METZ is Manager of Isotech’s Western Hemisphere service and calibra-
tion center. Prior to this, he was Chief Metrologist at YSI, and until Henry Sost-
mann’s retirement in 1987 was Deputy Director of the YSI Calibration Center of
the German Calibration Service (DKD). He has an extensive background in elec-
tronics, temperature calibration, platinum and thermistor resistance thermometers,
and fundamental calibration devices.
 ABOUT THE AUTHORS

HENRY E. SOSTMANN is a Consulting Metrologist practicing in temperature

metrology, laboratory management and international legal metrology stan-
dards. He is a graduate of Rutgers University with graduate studies at
Drew University, the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York University
and Wright State University, and is a Registered Professional Engineer. He
was founder and President of H. E. Sostmann & Co, Inc., and later Vice
President, Basic Metrology, of YSI. His present activities include U. S. rep-
resentation on various secretariats of the International Organization for Le-
gal Metrology (OIML) concerned with international harmonization of metrol-
ogy standards.