Viscosity measurements of melts at high temperatures using ultrasonic guided waves

This paper describes an experimental procedure using ultrasonic waves propagating in a rod to simultaneously measure the viscosity and temperature of melts at high temperatures using a very small amount of sample and without any mechanical rotating equipment. This method has applications in laboratory tests as well as for process monitoring in industries. A refractory material is used as buffer rod in the experiment to transfer the ultrasonic vibrations from a piezoelectric transducer into the melt, which is water cooled to protect the transducer from high temperatures. The sensor is based on the effect of melt viscosity on ultrasonic guided wave reflections from the solid–fluid interface. The difference in the time of flight of the ultrasonic wave in the buffer rod at two different temperatures is used to measure the temperature. The results from the measurement of melt viscosity using the proposed method, on three different glass samples, are in agreement with the values provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA. This method offers advantages in reduction in the amount of sample, cost, complexity in experiments, experimental time.