A noncontact measurement technique for the specific heat and total hemispherical emissivity of undercooled refractory materials

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Abstract
A noncontact measurement technique for the constant pressure specific heat (cpl) and the total hemispherical emissivity (εTl) of undercooled refractory materials is presented. In purely radiative cooling, a simple formula which relates the post-recalescence isotherm duration and the undercooling level to cpl is derived. This technique also allows us to measure εTl once cpl is known. The experiments were performed using the high-temperature high-vacuum electrostatic levitator at JPL in which 2–3 mm diameter metallic samples can be levitated, melted, and radiatively cooled in vacuum. The averaged specific heats and total hemispherical emissivities of Zr and Ni over the undercooled regions agree well with the results obtained by drop calorimetry: cpl,av(Zr)=40.8±0.9 J/mol K, εTl,av(Zr)=0.28±0.01, cpl,av(Ni)=42.6±0.8 J/mol K, and εTl,av(Ni)=0.16±0.01.