COMPLAS 2025

Bulk density measurements of small solid objects using lase confocal microscopy

  • Kilmametov, Askar (LSPM - CNRS)
  • Walheim, Stefan (INT - KIT)

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The studies of Small-scaled Materials are closely associated with high precision techniques to obtain microstructural characteristics and properties for rather small amount of micro-/nanostructured metals and alloys. Bulk density is one of the fundamental characteristics of matter, and its measurement for a small solid object with a mass in the range from 1 to 100 mg is a non-trivial and elusive task. At this work, a novel approach for precise density measurement of samples with a small weight in the range of 1–3 mg is presented [1]. A new kind of displacement method has been developed, by which a solid object is dropped into a semi-confined cylindrical cavity, which is filled with a nonvolatile liquid, to determine the volume of the sample. Due to surface tension, the upper level of the liquid forms a spherical meniscus pinned at the circular contact line, which is limited by a printed hydrophobic self-assembled monolayer. Monitoring of the liquid level is performed by confocal laser microscopy with μm-resolution. As a result, straightforward procedure is developed to build-up a mass/volume linear dependence. This enables to determine the density of small solids with an accuracy of ≤0.5%. The method appears to be very sensitive to open and closed porosity as well. The presented approach will be extremely useful for density measurements of solids with any kinds of surface irregularities or granular materials, or whenever only small samples are available.