A rapid heating and high magnetic field thermal analysis technique

A new thermal analysis technique is described that allows measurements to be performed on bulk samples at extreme heating and cooling rates and in high magnetic fields. High heating rates, up to 1000 °C min−1, are achieved through electromagnetic induction heating of a custom-built apparatus fitted with commercial thermal analysis heads and sensor. Rapid cooling rates, up to 100 °C min−1, are enabled by gas quenching and the small thermal mass of the induction furnace. The custom apparatus is designed to fit inside a superconducting magnet capable of fields up to 9 Tesla. This study demonstrates that the instrument is capable of collecting accurate thermal analysis data in high magnetic fields and rapidly acquiring data for dynamic processes. While the full potential of the technique is still unrealized, currently, it can provide insight into phenomena at time scales relevant to heat treatment in many industrial processes and into little understood effects of high magnetic field processing.