Temperature decoupled viscosity-density product measurement in liquid by utilizing a dual-mode AlN-based acoustic wave resonator

Abstract

In this letter, we report a two-in-one acoustic wave resonator with Rayleigh and Lamb modes for temperature decoupled viscosity-density product sensing. The Lamb mode of the resonator is sensitive to both the viscosity-density product and the ambient temperature, while the Rayleigh mode only responds to the ambient temperature and is not affected by liquid properties. These unique characteristics of the two modes are due to the different spatial distributions of the acoustic energy. Taking advantage of the aforementioned features, a beat frequency strategy is proposed to decouple the temperature influence from the viscosity-density product measurement, thus realizing temperature independent viscosity-density product sensing in a single acoustic wave resonator chip. Experimental results show that the accurate measurement of the viscosity-density product can be achieved in Newtonian liquids with a sensitivity of −0.36 MHz/kg m−2 s−0.5 within a wide temperature range from 20 °C to 80 °C. Our work holds great promise for liquid property measurement occasions with large fluctuations in ambient temperature, such as oil and gas exploration, automobile, and aeronautic applications.