The coexistence of pressure waves in the operation of quartz-crystal shear-wave sensors

Abstract

It is demonstrated that an AT-cut quartz crystal driven in the thickness-shear-wave mode and typically used as a sensor to monitor the viscoelastic shear-wave properties of a fluid also produce longitudinal pressure waves. Unlike the shear wave, these waves are capable of long-range propagation through the fluid and of reflection at its boundaries, notably at an outer fluid–air interface. They introduce a component into the measured electrical impedance and resonance frequency shift of the crystal, which reflects the setting up of cyclic pressure-wave resonances in the fluid. This has important implications for the practical employment of these crystal as sensors. Under appropriate conditions, as demonstrated for water and n-octane, it is possible to determine the propagating properties of sound waves in a fluid simultaneously with the viscoelastic shear-wave properties. These experiments are supported by an analysis of the appropriate hydrodynamic equations for waves in the crystal–fluid system, which predicts electrical characteristics in close agreement with those found experimentally.