Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor to Monitor Stress Kinetics in Drying Process of Commercial Latex Paints

In this paper, we report a study about the application of packaged fiber Bragg gratings used as strain sensors to monitor the stress kinetics during the drying process of commercial latex paints. Three stages of drying with distinct mechanical deformation and temporal behaviors were identified for the samples, with mechanical deformation from 15 μm to 21 μm in the longitudinal film dimension on time intervals from 370 to 600 minutes. Drying time tests based on human sense technique described by the Brazilian Technical Standards NBR 9558 were also done. The results obtained shows that human sense technique has a limited perception of the drying process and that the optical measurement system proposed can be used to characterize correctly the dry-through stage of paint. The influence of solvent (water) addition in the drying process was also investigated. The paint was diluted with four parts paint and one part water (80% paint), and one part paint and one part water (50% paint). It was observed that the increase of the water ratio mixed into the paint decreases both the mechanical deformation magnitude and the paint dry-through time. Contraction of 5.2 μm and 10.4 μm were measured for concentrations of 50% and 80% of paint in the mixture, respectively. For both diluted paints the dry-through time was approximately 170 minutes less than undiluted paint. The optical technique proposed in this work can contribute to the development of new standards to specify the drying time of paint coatings

Advances and new applications using the acousto-optic effect in optical fibers

This work presents a short review of the current research on the acousto-optic mechanism applied to optical fibers. The role of the piezoelectric element and the acousto-optic modulator in the excitation of flexural and longitudinal acoustic modes in the frequency range up to 1.2 MHz is highlighted. A combination of the finite elements and the transfer matrix methods is used to simulate the interaction of the waves with Bragg and long period gratings. Results show a very good agreement with experimental data. Recent applications such as the writing of gratings under the acoustic excitation and a novel viscometer sensor based on the acousto-optic mechanism are discussed

Etched fiber bragg gratings sensors for water-ethanol mixtures: a comparative study

In this work is evaluated the performance of etched fiber Bragg gratings, assembled in different configurations to operate as a refractometric sensor, in the analysis of water-ethanol mixtures. Two fiber Bragg gratings operating close to 1300 nm and 1500 nm were wet-etched and employed in the sensor design. Four configurations for the refractometric sensor were studied, in dual-wavelength and single-wavelength operation modes, and at two sample temperatures. Calibration curves were determined for the range between 0.0 and 100.0 % v/v of water in ethanol, and the sensor performance for each configuration was analyzed by comparing its sensitivity, conformity, repeatability and combined uncertainty. The best results showed that the sensor can be used to measure the ethanol-water concentration with combined uncertainty of 2.8 % v/v for the range up to 80.0 % v/v of ethanol concentration and 7.0 % v/v of uncertainty for the range above 80.0 % v/v of ethanol concentration for the single-wavelength operation mode at two temperatures