On the temperature measurement during ultrafast high-temperature sintering (UHS): Shall we trust metal-shielded thermocouples?

Temperature measurement upon ultrafast high-temperature sintering (UHS) is a crucial task. Herein, we provide some arguments posing concerns about the use of metal-shielded thermocouples as temperature probes in UHS. The discussion is based on literature data and on some ad hoc experiments. In detail, we show at least two cases in the literature where the use of a shielded thermocouple causes a substantial underestimation of the UHS temperature. The argumentation is based on comparing the thermocouples read and the observed phase and microstructural evolution. Moreover, by means of a simple experimental design, we show that a metal shield on the thermocouple tip can substantially reduce the measured temperature. Since the metal shield is orders of magnitude more thermally conductive than the graphite felt used as heating element in UHS, it efficiently removes heat from the thermocouple tip region. As such, data acquired from shielded thermocouples must be treated with care.