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Published on: April 17, 2018
Visualization of Local Concentration and Viscosity Distribution during Glycerol-Water Mixing in a Y-Shape
Isabel Medina1, Julian Deuerling1, Pooja Kumari1
1Center for Mass Spectrometry and Optical Spectroscopy, Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Paul-Wittsack-Straße 10, 68163 Mannheim, Germany.
Abstract:
The work presents an efficient and non-invasive method to visualize the local concentration and viscosity distribution of two miscible and non-reacting substances with a significant viscosity difference in a microchannel with a Y-shape cell. The proof-of-concept setup consists of a near-infrared (NIR) camera and cost-effective dome lighting with NIR light-emitting diodes (LED) covering the wavelength range of 1050 to 1650 nm. Absorption differences of glycerol and water and their mixtures with a mass fraction of glycerol from 0 to 0.95 gGlycgtotal-1 were analyzed in the NIR spectral area. The resulting measurement images were converted in a concentration profile by using absorbance calculated with Lambert-Beer law. A linear behavior between the concentration and the absorption coefficient is demonstrated. The result of local concentration in mass fraction was used to determine the local viscosity and illustrated as distribution images. By variating the fluid parameters, the influences of the highly different original viscosities in the mixing procedure were investigated and visualized.
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