Radiation Effects in Precision Resistance Thermometry: I. Radiation Losses in Transparent Thermometer Sheaths

Standard platinum resistance thermometers that are constructed with transparent sheaths of fused silica or pyrex glass are subject to thermal losses arising from losses of visible and near-infrared radiation up (piping) and through these sheaths. This heat loss may introduce substantial errors in temperature determinations; e.g. 0.084, 0.015, and 0.001 1 °C at the Sb, Zn, and Sn fixed-temperature points for a fused-silica sheath, or 0.000 2 °C at the Zn and Sn points for a pyrex sheath. This effect has been investigated in detail for thermometers of various types at the Sb, Zn, and Sn points, and it has been shown that simple stem radiation-traps, consisting of a blackening or roughening of the smooth outer surface of the thermometer sheaths, will eliminate these errors and greatly improve the immersion characteristics of the thermometers.Suitable radiation-trapping should be incorporated on the stems of every transparent-sheathed standard platinum resistance thermometer; without strong evidence to the contrary, radiation loss errors of the orders of magnitude cited above should be suspected in reported measurements involving resistance thermometers having unprotected transparent fused-silica sheaths.