An innovative microwave cavity sensor for non-destructive characterisation of polymers

•An Innovative and cost effective microwave sensing technology has been investigated to instantaneously characterise the polymers.•The technique successfully demonstrated material properties such as particle size/size distribution, contamination, mix of polymer samples.•It was found that the air voi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. 2016-11, Vol.251, p.156-166
Main Authors: Ateeq, Muhammad, Shaw, Andy, Wang, Lei, Dickson, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cost benefit analysis
Feasibility studies
Microwave analysis
Microwave sensor
Microwaves
Non-destructive analysis
Particle size
Particle size distribution
Polymer
Polymer characterization
Polymers
Resonant cavity
Sensors
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Summary:•An Innovative and cost effective microwave sensing technology has been investigated to instantaneously characterise the polymers.•The technique successfully demonstrated material properties such as particle size/size distribution, contamination, mix of polymer samples.•It was found that the air void content may also be detected through microwave sensing technique.•A further detailed study is required to reduce the anomalies noticed in the study and to reduce the errors encountered in the measurements.•A carefully designed bespoke sensor need manufacturing to relate various polymer materials and their properties to microwave response. This paper investigates the feasibility of using an innovative microwave sensing technology to characterise and study various properties of polymer material such as difference between various polymer types, particle size and particle size distribution, contamination and pigmentation. A microwave sensor designed previously has been utilised to carry out this initial study to analyse the capability of microwave techniques to carry out the analysis. The curves obtained from material response to microwaves are distinguishable showing the shift to the lower frequency end with the insertion of polymer material. S11 measurements have shown distinctive peaks for each size and type of the sample tested. The results are quantifiable in terms of various polymer properties under consideration. In terms of S21 measurements, microwave sensor clearly distinguishes between coarse and fine polymer samples in terms of particle size. The effect of air voids in the sample and the particle size distribution has also been studied. The results are promising and justifies a thorough design and development of a dedicated microwave sensor unit for the characterisation of polymers. The sensor will have a significant industrial benefit in terms of costs associated with the industrial analysis, increase in the efficiency of manufacturing and production operation as well as material quality, control and validation.
ISSN:0924-4247
1873-3069
DOI:10.1016/j.sna.2016.10.019