THE NON-GRAVIMETRIC QUARTZ-CRYSTAL RESONATOR RESPONSE AND ITS APPLICATION FOR DETERMINATION OF POLYMER SHEAR MODULUS

An application of quartz crystal resonator measurements for characteri zation of polymer materials is presented. It exploits the non-gravimet ric response of these resonators, namely the dependence of the electri cal response of polymer-coated quartz crystal resonators on the polyme r's shear modulus. The possibility and an acoustic limit for this meth od for determination of shear moduli are discussed. It is shown that t his application of quartz crystal resonators is in contrast to the wel l known mass detection according to gravimetric working conditions. An error analysis for the gravimetric frequency interpretation for polym er-coated crystals is presented.