EXPERIMENTAL ASPECTS OF THE RESONANT-FREQUENCY SHIFT OF A QUARTZ RESONATOR CAUSED BY PARTICLE ADHESION IN VISCOUS-LIQUIDS

The resonant frequency shift(Delta f) caused by polystyrene-latex (PSL ) particles adhering to a quartz resonator was measured in a flow-chan nel type quartz crystal microbalance(QCM) system. A linear relationshi p was observed between Delta f and the number density (N) of adhering PSL particle counted by SEM. The slope of Delta f-N was compared to ob servations with our theoretical model,previously derived, that depends on particle size and solution viscosity. There is slight discrepancy from the theoretical model attributed to the excessive evaluation of t he fluid-mechanical drag acting on the resonator and adhering particle s.