Improved calibration of impedance analyzers for measurements on highly conductive liquids

An improved calibration method for low-frequency dielectric measurements of conducting liquids using an impedance analyzer is presented. It consists of representing the instrument as an electric quadrupole and performing three calibrations over the whole frequency range. These calibrations consist of short, open, and a reference load whose impedance is similar to that of the unknown sample. The reference load consists of the sample cell filled with an electrolyte with known dielectric properties. This method allows a differential measurement of the dielectric properties of the unknown liquid with far higher precision than what is possible using the standard calibration method. It proved useful for measurements on suspensions of up to 0.8 S/m conductivity at frequencies down to 10 kHz using the Hewlett Packard HP 4192 A instrument.

[1]  T. Hanai,et al.  Dielectric properties of spherical macroion suspensions. I. Study on monodisperse polystyrene latex. , 1981, Biophysical chemistry.

[2]  J. Maczuk,et al.  ON THE LOW-FREQUENCY DIELECTRIC DISPERSION OF COLLOIDAL PARTICLES IN ELECTROLYTE SOLUTION1 , 1962 .

[3]  J. Lyklema,et al.  The relaxation of the bouble layer around colloidal particles and the low-frequency dielectric dispersion. II. Experiments , 1983 .

[4]  L. White,et al.  THE DIELECTRIC RESPONSE OF DILUTE POLYSTYRENE LATEX DISPERSIONS , 1992 .

[5]  D. Saville,et al.  Dielectric spectroscopy of colloidal dispersions : comparisons between experiment and theory , 1991 .

[6]  Pieper,et al.  Broad Frequency Range Study of the Dielectric Properties of Suspensions of Colloidal Polystyrene Particles in Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions. , 1998, Journal of colloid and interface science.

[7]  H. P. Leeuwen,et al.  Impedance spectroscopy of colloids , 1994 .

[8]  Á. Delgado,et al.  Correlation of the Dielectric and Conductivity Properties of Polystyrene Suspensions with Zeta Potential and Electrolyte Concentration , 1994 .

[9]  S. Dukhin,et al.  Low frequency dielectric dispersion in ethylcellulose latex. Effect of pH and ionic strength , 1998 .

[10]  H. Schwan,et al.  Dielectric Relaxation of Colloidal Particle Suspensions at Radio Frequencies Caused by Surface Conductance , 1995 .

[11]  E. Franses,et al.  Electrical properties of aqueous dispersions of polymer microspheres , 1986 .

[12]  J. Lyklema,et al.  Low-Frequency Dielectric Response of Polystyrene Latex Dispersions. , 1998, Journal of colloid and interface science.

[13]  H. Fricke,et al.  XXXIII. The theory of electrolytic polarization , 1932 .

[14]  Robert Kennedy.  L. Chemical analysis of an uncommon species of zeolite , 1803 .

[15]  W. Scheider.  Theory of the frequency dispersion of electrode polarization. Topology of networks with fractional power frequency dependence , 1975 .