Spectral emissivity of copper and nickel in the mid-infrared range between 250 and 900 °C

A study on the radiative properties of two pure metals, copper and nickel, using a high accuracy radiometer is carried out. Their spectral emissivity between 3 and 21 μm and its dependence on emission angle and temperature between 250 and 900 °C is measured. An evolution of the samples emissivity associated to the surface stress relaxation is observed, which is relieved after two or three heating cycles. Spectral emissivity of metals usually decreases as wavelength increases, but in the case of copper an irregular behaviour has been found. Its spectral emissivity shows a broad plateau around 10 μm, which can be due to the anomalous skin effect. On the other hand, the emissivity usually increases with temperature, but in the case of nickel the emissivity changes little and even slightly decreases for T > 700 °C. The experimental directional emissivity of both metals shows the dependence on the emission angle predicted by the electromagnetic theory for metallic samples. By increasing the emission angle, the emissivity dependence on the wavelength strongly decreases. Furthermore, in the case of nickel, an emissivity increase with wavelength is observed for λ > 20 μm. The electrical resistivity for both metals is obtained by fitting the experimental emissivity curves with the Hagen-Rubens equation. The results agree fairly well with direct electrical resistivity measurements for copper but show a poor agreement in the case of nickel.