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Title: Note: Precision viscosity measurement using suspended microchannel resonators

Journal Article · · Review of Scientific Instruments
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4768245· OSTI ID:22093997
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul 121-742 (Korea, Republic of)
  2. Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Systems Engineering, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881 (United States)

We report the characterization of a suspended microchannel resonator (SMR) for viscosity measurements in a low viscosity regime (<10 mPa s) using two measurement schemes. First, the quality factor (Q-factor) of the SMR was characterized with glycerol-water mixtures. The measured Q-factor at 20 Degree-Sign C exhibits a bilinear behavior with the sensitivity of 1281 (mPa s){sup -1} for a lower (1-4 mPa s) and 355 (mPa s){sup -1} for a higher viscosity range (4-8 mPa s), respectively. The second scheme is the vibration amplitude monitoring of the SMR running in a closed loop feedback. When compared in terms of the measurement time, the amplitude-based measurement takes only 0.1 {approx} 1 ms while the Q-factor-based measurement takes {approx}30 s. However, the viscosity resolution of the Q-factor-based measurement is at least three times better than the amplitude-based measurement. By comparing the Q-factors of heavy water and 9.65 wt.% glycerol-water mixture that have very similar viscosities but different densities, we confirmed that the SMR can measure the dynamic viscosity without the density correction. The obtained results demonstrate that the SMR can measure the fluid viscosity with high precision and even real-time monitoring of the viscosity change is possible with the amplitude-based measurement scheme.

OSTI ID:
22093997
Journal Information:
Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 83, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English