A new in situ electrical calibration system for high temperature Calvet calorimeters.

A new in situ high temperature electrical calibration system was developed at Laboratoire National de Metrologie et d'Essais, Laboratoire Commun de Metrologie and integrated into a heat flux Calvet calorimeter in order to perform accurate and reliable measurements of enthalpy of fusion that are directly traceable to the International System of Units (SI). This system has been designed to enable the calibration of the calorimeter by electrical substitution (Joule effect) as well as the measurement of enthalpy of fusion in perfectly identical experimental conditions. The metrological features (repeatability, linearity, etc.) of the calorimeter have been evaluated with this system by investigating the influence of some parameters (level of energy, dissipation time, and temperature) on the determination of the sensitivity factor of its thermopiles. Two different procedures, for the calibration and the enthalpy measurements with this new electrical calibration system, have been implemented and tested by measuring the enthalpy of fusion of high purity 6N tin. The results obtained are in very good agreement with those measured by other National Metrology Institutes on the same material.