Direct emissivity measurements on liquids and corrections to multi-color pyrometers

Optical pyrometry provides a means for non-contact temperature measurements whose accuracy depends on the accuracy with which specimen emittance is known. Two methods for obtaining the required emittance data are discussed in which the emittance is determined from measurements of the wavelength or polarization dependence of light emitted by the specimen. The spectral technique, multi-color pyrometry, yields apparent values for specimen emittance and temperature from emitted intensity measurements at two or more wavelengths. Emittance corrections cannot be eliminated by increasing the number of spectral intensity measurements required by an n-color pyrometer. Even if this were possible, the accuracy of temperature measurements by n-color pyrometry decreases with n such that pyrometers that require four intensity measurements would be impractical. In contrast, emittance values and corrections for one-color pyrometers can be accurately measured by the polarized light technique. The polarized light technique involves measurement of the degree of polarization for light emitted at an angle of 45 deg to the specimen normal. The reflectivities (r) for light polarized parallel (p) and normal (n) to the plane of emission are related by r(p) = r(n) squared. This leads to a simple relation between the intensity ratio for light emitted in the two polarized states and the emittance, i.e., e(n) = 2 - I(p)/I(n). The true specimen temperature is also obtained if absolute intensities are measured. Delvelopment of the polarized light technique in combination with one-color optical pyrometry is recommended to achieve accurate non-contact temperature measurements on liquids.