The sensor is being used in Superior Graphite Company's Electroconsolidation process, which can be used to manufacture parts from powders of many different materials, including metals, ceramics, and polymeric composite materials. High-tech components often start out as particles of advanced materials that are mixed with binders before being formed into desired shapes. The preforms are then densified to their final microstructural state using high temperatures and pressures. In Superior Graphite's process, preformed parts are immersed in a bed of graphite powder lying inside a cylindrical die chamber.
Heat is generated resistively within the graphite powder by means of an electrical current.
2000 C. Superior Graphite thought the answer might lie with Argonne National Laboratory, and so enlisted Argonne's aid. How the Sensor Works Argonne's technique measures the speed of pulsed ultrasonic waves as they traverse any portion of the granular medium lying directly between two ultrasonic transducers. The sensor technology is rugged enough for use in hostile environments and can nonintrusively measure process temperatures as high as 3000 C to an accuracy of 2-3 percent. The sensor was developed by Argonne's Sensors, Instrumentation and Nondestructive Evaluation Section in the Energy Technology Division . Argonne's research was funded by Superior Graphite Company under an award from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Advanced Technology Program.