Vibrating Cantilevers for the Measurement of Liquid Viscosity and Density

Microacoustic liquid sensors like quartz crystal resonators [1] and surface acoustic wave devices [2] have proved particularly useful alternatives to traditional viscometers. However, for non-Newtonian or more complex liquids such as emulsions it has been shown that microacoustic devices may not be sufficient to detect rheological effects which are present on the macroscopic scale [3]. In contrast, cantilever based liquid sensors sense in a rheological domain which is more comparable to that probed by laboratory instruments [4]. However, cantilever sensors do not show a simple relation between sensor parameters and liquid parameters. In our contribution, we aim at clarifying this relation using an experimental approach combined with an analytical model.