Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Temperature Field of a Fixed-Point Cavity

The temperature field non-uniformity of a blackbody cavity is one of the components of uncertainty of fixed-point realization. Here a study of the design and opportunities of the temperature furnace used in VNIIM is described. The dependence of the uniformity of a temperature field on various factors is shown by results of numerical calculations of a temperature field of VNIIM’s copper and gold fixed-point cells, realized with the software packages Elcut 5.3 and Ansys 11.0. A thermophysical model of the phase transition considered as steady state with convection and radiation heat exchange to an environment is applied. The basic focus is made on calculation of the radiation heat exchange between crucible elements and the environment and a furnace cavity, as a dominating component of the heat transfer. Results using analytically and numerically calculated angular factors of radiation of heat exchange are discussed. The data obtained in measurements of a temperature field of a cavity fixed point during phase transitions of copper and gold by a spectrocomparator with high sensitivity, are also shown here. Both theoretical calculation and experiment were realized at various distributions of temperature along an external surface of a crucible. Good agreement of results between steady-state calculation of a temperature field and the measured data with the best entry conditions is observed. The average value of non-uniformity of a temperature field along a cavity for points of phase transition of copper and gold for an 88 mm long graphite crucible with a 54 mm deep, 8 mm diameter cavity was 40 mK, and the temperature drop across the graphite wall was 20 mK. In this paper the reasons for occurrence of large gradients inside a fixed-point cavity during the phase transition, received during some experimental research, are also discussed.