David,
There is (or, at least, used to be) such a product. One version is called
"Tempil." These are color coded waxes with specific melting points. They
work as follows: you drag a stick across the surface of the object whose
temperature you want to measure; this leaves a somewhat ragged residue.
When the temperature gets to be high enough, the wax melts and the
raggedness disappears, leaving a shiny surface when it cools (obviously, if
it gets too hot, the wax will burn, if there is sufficient oxygen present).
The application for this product is to measure temperatures in locations
that are not readily accessible.
I used these sticks many years ago to measure the temperature at a thermal
neutron irradiation site inside a nuclear research reactor. We had a
pneumatic line leading to that irradiation site and would fire small
capsules into the reactor and irradiate them there. The irradiation site
was air cooled but we needed to know what the effect of the small capsules
was on the temperature. The distance between the end of the pneumatic line
in the laboratory and the other end (in the reactor) was about 300 feet (I'm
guessing) and the capsule traveled that distance in about 10 seconds. The
speed and distance were too great to use thermocouples with trailing wires
in the capsule. So I went with the Tempil sticks and put small marks on a
substrate. After the capsule was retrieved, I was able to determine the
maximum temperature by looking at which wax marks had melted. The waxes
consist mainly of carbon and hydrogen and those elements don't absorb
neutrons to any great extent and don't become radioactive.
This was done at least 25 years ago and I don't know if you can still get
these sticks. Maybe a search on the Internet will help. Hope this helps.
Chuck Vandergraaf
'52 +4
Pinawa, MB
> ----------
> From: David[SMTP:pdburket@intrepid.net]
> Reply To: David
> Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 1999 10:16 AM
> To: Morgan List
> Subject: <no subject>
>
> Fellow Morgan folks,
>
> Last week there was a thread concerning the determination of the exact
> temp
> at the water pump and at the radiator using "thermomelt" sticks. This is
> a
> new one on me. I asked a friend, who is a mechanic, about "Thermomelt"
> stick. He had never heard of it and thought I was trying to pull some
> kind
> of joke on him. Can anyone on the list direct me to a source for
> "Thermomelt" or "Tempil" sticks?
>
> Great list, super info,
> David
>
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