Spectral emissivity modeling of steel 201 during the growth of oxidation film over the temperature range from 800 to 1100 K in air

•Periodical oscillations of spectral emissivity are observed.•Variation of spectral emissivity with heating time is studied.•Variation of spectral emissivity with temperature is evaluated.•Uncertainties of spectral emissivity contributed by oxidation is about 3.2–14.1%.•Variation of emissivity with temperature or heating time follows the same rule.

This study explores the spectral emissivity modeling of steel 201 during the growth of oxidation film over the temperature range from 800 to 1100 K at 1.5 μm. The radiance coming from the specimen is received by an InGaAs photodiode detector. The specimen temperature is obtained by averaging the two platinum–rhodium thermocouples, which are tightly welded in the front surface of specimen near the measuring area viewed by the detector. The variation of spectral emissivity with the temperature is studied at a given heating time. The variation of spectral emissivity with the heating time is evaluated at a definite temperature. The strong oscillations of spectral emissivity are observed and discussed in detail, which originate from the interference effect between the radiation stemming from the oxidization film on the specimen surface and the radiation coming from the specimen surface. The measurement uncertainties of spectral emissivity contributed only by the surface oxidization are about 3.2–14.1%. At a given heating time, the variation of spectral emissivity with the temperature abides well by a simple analytic functional form. And at a definite temperature, the variation of spectral emissivity with the heating time can also be well reproduced by fitting except for the periodical oscillations.