Metrology of electrothermal coupling for new functional materials technology

This project developed the metrological infrastructure and facilities within Europe for the traceable metrology of coupling between thermal, mechanical and electrical properties in new materials technologies at high temperatures (up to 1000 ºC) and high electric fields (up to 5kV/mm). New technologies are being developed that will enable reductions in energy consumption and improvements in efficiency and reliability in automotive, energy, process, electronics and medical industries through the use of new functional materials which operate at temperatures up to 1000 °C. These applications exploit the actuation, sensing and cooling functionality of ferroelectric materials which result from strong coupling between electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. Degradation of materials properties at high temperature means that before the project these applications are currently only possible below 200 °C. Before the project, the new materials for high temperature operation were not supported by a metrological framework for traceable measurement of the coupling at high temperatures. Understanding these materials and being able to measure their properties will encourage further research and industrial applications.

Coordinator: Paul Weaver, NPL (UK)

For more information, please contact the EURAMET Management Support Unit:
Phone: +44 20 8943 6666
E-mail: empir.msu@euramet.org