A Micro-Nodal Tungsten-Rhenium Thin-Film Thermocouple Based on Electrohydrodynamic Printing

High-temperature thin-film thermocouples (TFTCs) have gained significant attention in the aerospace and energy industries due to their compact size and millisecond response time. Although previous studies have reduced the size of TFTCs to the millimeter scale, the heat flow field has continued to limit temperature measurement accuracy. To address this issue, this study used an electrohydrodynamic printing process to fabricate tungsten-rhenium TFTCs with a thickness at the micrometer scale. In the static test, the tungsten-rhenium TFTCs showed good performance with a measurement accuracy better than 1.2%, repeatability better than 0.99%, and a drift rate of 0.72%/h. In dynamic tests, the response time was 1.2 ms. Additionally, during flame gun heating tests, the response time and temperature measurement accuracy exceeded those of the standard thermocouple.