Near-Infrared Spectral Emissivity of Cu, Ag, and Au in the Liquid and Solid States at Their Melting Points

Normal spectral emissivities of liquid and solid Cu, Ag, and Au have been determined at their melting points over a wavelength range 1000 to 2500 nm using an apparatus that consists of a cold crucible and a diffraction grating spectrometer. For the noble metals, the emissivities of liquid phases are systematically larger than those of solid phases over the measured wavelength range, and the wavelength dependence of the liquid is similar to that of the solid. The measured emissivities for the liquid metals are compared with those deduced from the optical constants measured by Miller and Krishnan et al. The present results for liquid Cu and Au are in good agreement with the data of Krishnan et al., but not with those of Miller for Cu, which suggests that the optical constants measured by Krishnan et al. for liquid Cu are more accurate than those of Miller. The present data for liquid Ag and Au are in excellent agreement with all previously reported data. For the solid metals at their melting point, a semi-empirical estimation of the emissivity was carried out based upon the Drude model incorporating the effects of interband absorption and a frequency-dependent scattering rate, τ^-1(ω) = τ₀^-1 + bω². The values of τ ₀^-1 and b at the melting point are obtained by fitting the modified Drude model to the measurement results for the solid noble metals.