Acoustic monitoring of viscous fluids

Abstract

The acoustic signature is essential in the characterization of liquids and the non-destructive evaluation of microstructural damages in materials. It closely relates to the sample's molecular structure, providing insight into its material properties. Studies have reported the measurement of B/A for the characterization of industrial materials ranging from geophysics to biological fluids such as silicon oil and gelatin. However, none of the studies has focused on investigating B/A for quality monitoring of viscous fluids such as syrups. As viscosity is a critical factor for these fluids' shelf-life, processing, and packaging, it is vital to monitor their quality during production. However, most current techniques rely only on the laboratory-based rheological method for quality monitoring and assessment. Thus, this paper aims to provide a non-destructive, real-time monitoring tool to monitor the viscosity of honey using a nonlinear acoustical approach based on the Second harmonic generation method (SHGM). A simultaneous study is performed to obtain the linear acoustical parameter, such as speed of sound and attenuation, for a similar setup. Both results are compared to see the viscosity correlation with each parameter. This research will help the food industry provide a fast and efficient way of inspecting consumable food products.