Measurement of Total Hemispherical Emittance and Specific Heat of Aluminum and Inconel 718 by a Calorimetric Technique

An apparatus for the measurement of the total hemispherical emittance and specific heat of metals has been developed. The measurement principle is based on the calorimetric technique: the sample, heated by Joule effect and placed in a vacuum chamber, exchanges radiative heat transfer with the walls of the container, kept at a relatively low temperature. Emittance is deduced from the radiative heat transfer laws at the steady state. When the heating power is switched off, the specific heat of the sample can be recovered from the time history of the sample temperature during the cooling transient. Measurements have been performed on samples of aluminum Anticorodal alloy and Inconel 718 alloy under different surface conditions in the 350-635K range.