Effects of Quartz Glass Insulation on Platinum Gold Thermocouples

Au/Pt thermocouples are considered as an alternative to High Temperature Platinum Resistance Thermometers and are one of the prime candidates to replace them as the interpolating instrument of the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) in the temperature range between about 660 °C and 962 °C. This work presents the results of investigation of two Au/Pt thermocouples that used exclusively quartz glass (SiO2) as insulation material. Measurements in fixed points of Zn, Al, and Ag were realized on these thermocouples as well with interchanged inner insulation made of high purity aluminium oxide (Al2O3). The conducted experiments tested the performance of Au/Pt thermocouples with the use of different insulation materials. The measured electromotive forces were found to be sensitive to the replacement of the quartz glass by aluminium oxide as an insulation material of the Au/Pt thermocouples. This change of insulation has resulted in a temperature increase up to about 0.5 K measured at the freezing point of silver. The decreasing insulation resistance of quartz glass at higher temperatures is believed to be the source of thermoelectric instability.