Hysteresis of thin film IPRTs in the range 100 °C to 600 °C

As opposed to SPRTs, the IPRTs succumb to hysteresis when submitted to change of temperature. This uncertainty component, although acknowledged as omnipresent at many other types of sensors (pressure, electrical, magnetic, humidity, etc.) has often been disregarded in their calibration certificates' uncertainty budgets in the past, its determination being costly, time-consuming and not appreciated by customers and manufacturers. In general, hysteresis is a phenomenon that results in a difference in an item's behavior when approached from a different path. Thermal hysteresis results in a difference in resistance at a given temperature based on the thermal history to which the PRTs were exposed. The most prominent factor that contributes to the hysteresis error in an IPRT is a strain within the sensing element caused by the thermal expansion and contraction. The strains that cause hysteresis error are closely related to the strains that cause repeatability error. Therefore, it is typical that PRTs that exhi...