SBIR Phase I: Development of a Dynamic, High-Resolution Volumetric Dilatometer

这个第一阶段的小企业创新研究项目旨在开发一种仪器，以准确表征材料比容（Vsp）的热(T)和/或时间(T)响应。目前，还没有商业上可用的设备来表征环境压力下的Vsp （T， T）。提案人参与了第一阶段原型设备的设计、开发和验证，从而确定了现有技术中的差距。通过实现由提案人开发的光纤位移传感器系统，提出的下一代仪器的开发成为可能。这在一定程度上是由于新的工程材料不断涌入市场（即热塑性塑料，热固性材料，金属合金，现有材料的多晶体等），以及新的和令人兴奋的领域（即微电子，复合材料制造等）的出现和/或增长。最终，这种需求是由导致尺寸变化的各种物理现象（即结晶、固化、熔化、玻璃形成、二次转变和物理老化）所驱动的。完全开发和商业化的仪器的具体应用包括大气压高分辨率体积膨胀测量；以及非接触式、纳米位移计量；线性膨胀测量、非接触测量、微位移测量和薄膜测量。

This Phase I Small Business Innovation Research project aims to develop an instrument to accurately characterize the thermal (T) and/or temporal (t) response of a material's specific volume (Vsp). Presently, no commercially available device exists for the characterization of Vsp (T, t) at ambient pressures. The proposer's involvement in the design, development and validation of a stage I prototype device is what has led to the identification of gaps within the existing technology. The proposed development of this next generation instrumentation was made possible through the implementation of a fiber-optic displacement sensor system developed by the proposer. This is due in part, to a constant influx of new engineering materials to the market place (i.e. thermoplastics, thermosets, metal alloys, polymorphs of existing materials, etc.) and the emergence and/or growth of new and exciting fields (i.e. microelectronics, composite manufacturing, etc.). Ultimately, this need is driven by the fact that there are a variety of physical phenomena which result in dimensional change (i.e. crystallization, curing, melting, glass formation, secondary transitions and physical aging).Specific applications for the fully developed and commercialized instrumentation include atmospheric pressure high-resolution volumetric dilatometry; and non-contact, nano-displacement metrology; as well as, linear dilatometry, non-contact, micro-displacement metrology and thin-film metrology.