From MUL to MXT: A Smarter Thermocouple for High-Heat Applications

Why Sensor Innovation Still Matters

In foundry environments, precise temperature control is a necessity. Accurately monitoring and controlling temperature is critical to several aspects of the metal casting process. It’s essential for producing high quality metal products, preventing waste, keeping operations efficient, and protecting worker safety. When molten metal is even slightly off its target temperature, it can lead to defects, drops in yield, and costly waste. Maintaining optimal temperatures also helps to protect valuable production equipment from excessive thermal stress, extending its service life and preventing the unplanned downtime that so often accompanies equipment failure.

With temperature monitoring at the heart of so many industrial processes, every improvement in reliability, response time, or durability matters—especially in high heat, high pressure environments. That’s why your choice of thermocouple is important; it can have significant ripple effects on your foundry’s profitability, safety, and customer satisfaction.

Why We Transitioned from the MUL to the MXT

SYSCON Sensors’ MUL thermocouple has been a workhorse for foundries and metal processors for years. It has served a wide range of use cases and earned its spot on the floor. Trusted for its accuracy and multi-use performance, it set a strong foundation for reliable molten metal measurement. Over time, however, customer feedback and extensive field use has revealed opportunities to make this trusted product even better.

This has led directly to the development of the MXT thermocouple—a robust, non-splash, multi-use thermocouple that’s designed to last longer while maintaining consistently reliable performance. Both the MUL and MXT share key traits such as non-splash, multi-use construction, but the MXT takes these qualities further.

• Stronger ceramic fiber: The MXT uses a high-strength, non-reactive ceramic fiber sleeve that resists splashing and slag adhesion.
• Full-length aluminum foil wrap: While the MUL’s foil only covered the exposed section, the MXT’s full wrap protects the entire tube, improving heat rejection and keeping internal components cooler.
• Refined design: The MXT’s smoother, more uniform construction projects a more professional, higher quality appearance on the shop floor.

The result is a thermocouple that’s more reliable, more efficient, and better suited for today’s demanding foundry environments.

The MXT Advantage

Far more than simply a replacement for the MUL, the MXT is an evolution driven by real-world use and customer insight. These improvements help foundry teams work faster, more safely, and more economically:

• More durable design may extend average product life, resulting in cost savings for many of our customers.*
• High strength, non-splash, non-reactive ceramic fiber sleeve prevents metal splashback, resists slag adhesion, and ensures cleaner, safer dips.
• Full-length aluminum foil wrap reduces heat exposure to the leads and internal components, thereby enabling more readings per sensor.
• The MXT’s anti-slag adhesion qualities extend its usable life while minimizing contamination.
• Improved packaging, including a protective plastic cap that guards the tip during transit and storage, reduces breakage and enables more compact, efficient shipping.
• We’re stocking MXT in larger quantities for faster fulfillment. As a result, we’re able to ship most orders the same or next day.

* Actual performance will vary depending on metal chemistry and operator technique

We designed the MXT not simply to meet our customers’ specifications but to exceed expectations for teams who rely on these sensors every day.

Why Choose SYSCON Sensors?

For decades, SYSCON Sensors has been a trusted partner to foundries worldwide, providing temperature measurement and thermal analysis systems that improve efficiency, quality, and safety. We not only deliver proven quality, consistent performance and reliability, but we also provide expert customer support, including instrument repair and recalibration, to keep your temperature measurement systems running at peak performance.

The transition from MUL to MXT is a step forward in precision, safety, and cost efficiency for high heat applications. With a tougher build, better heat management, and enhanced usability, the MXT thermocouple helps foundries get more readings per tip and more value from every melt. SYSCON’s MXT thermocouples are competitively priced and compatible with most hardware and instrument systems, including SYSCON’s highly accurate and easy-to-use TS-1 handheld digital pyrometer.