Determination of pressure effect on thermocouple electromotive force using multi-anvil apparatus

We developed a method to determine the absolute pressure effect on thermocouple electromotive force (EMF), based on a single wire method using Kawai-type multi-anvil apparatus. In this method, pressure conditions along the wires were evaluated based on in situ X-ray diffraction using synchrotron X-ray radiation. The pressure effect of the Seebeck coefficients of chromel and alumel was determined up to 7?GPa and 600°C by the analyses of single wire EMFs and pressure-temperature profiles along the wires. The temperature correction for the type K thermocouple was calculated to be from 0°C to –3°C in the studied conditions. Since the multi-anvil apparatus is capable of achieving much higher pressure and temperature, the method presented in this study promises to reveal absolute temperature correction for thermocouples over a wide range of pressure and temperature conditions.