Dielectric study of binary mixtures of edible unsaturated oils

Abstract

The dielectric and relaxation parameters of a binary system of edible oils, containing unsaturated fats namely mustard oil and coconut oil/ground nut oil/linseed oil in different proportions by volume are measured at different frequencies and a constant temperature (40°C). It is realized that at the given temperature, the dielectric constant of prepared samples at microwave frequency increases with increasing percentage of impurities. The dielectric loss at microwave frequency also increases with the increase in the amount of added impurity. However dielectric constant at optical frequency tends to decrease under similar conditions. The proposed technique to check the purity of samples at microwave frequencies is found better than the traditionally applied optical technique because here different dielectric parameters like dielectric constant (e'), dielectric loss (e) and dielectric relaxation in prepared samples may be determined at a time.