Platinum Metals Review - Volume 6, Issue 4, 1962

Improvement in design of a gas turbine engine depends to a great extent upon achieving the optimum temperature distribution across the combustion chamber. In order to study this and so to be able to modify design a comprehensive series of temperature readings must be made across the combustion discharge nozzle. This article describes the test-bed procedure adopted by Rolls-Royce to provide the information required, the measurements being made with platinum thermocouples housed in specially designed probes. To withstand the high temperatures and pressures involved these probes are constructed in 40 per cent rhodium-platinum.

Previous articles in this journal have described the development of palladium alloy diffusion cells for the purification of hydrogen. A range of commercial cells has now been made available by Johnson Matthey to make possible the large-scale production of ultra-pure hydrogen from hydrogen less pure, or from a range of industrial gases containing hydrogen. The construction, operation, performance and applications of these cells are described here.

New values are presented and discussed for the thermal conductivities and electrical resistivities of ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, iridium, palladium and platinum over the approximate temperature range 80° to 500°K.