Development of an optical fiber sensor for monitoring the flow of colloidal nanoparticles

Resumo

An optical fiber sensor for monitoring dynamic systems of colloidal suspensions is reported. The system is comprised of a reflection-type quasi-elastic light scattering fiber probe that is placed on the assessed flow. The measurements were conducted for colloidal silica subjected to laminar flow condition, yielding 0.117 s/cm velocity sensitivity for 2.0 wt%. Furthermore, the decay rate of the scattered light intensity was correlated to the sample characteristics by artificial neural networks, providing 0.09 wt% and 0.3 cm/s errors concentration and velocity measurements, respectively.