Premium
An Assessment of the Applicability of Particle Light Scattering Theories to Birefringent Polycrystalline Ceramics
Author(s) -
Wen TzuChien,
Shetty Dinesh K.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.14014
Subject(s) - crystallite , volume fraction , birefringence , materials science , refractive index , light scattering , scattering , transmittance , optics , extrapolation , particle (ecology) , particle size , ceramic , attenuation , mineralogy , analytical chemistry (journal) , composite material , chemistry , physics , chromatography , optoelectronics , metallurgy , mathematics , mathematical analysis , oceanography , geology
The applicability of particle light scattering theories to light attenuation in birefringent polycrystalline ceramics was investigated by measuring light transmittance in a model two‐phase system. The system consisted of microspheres of silica dispersed in a solution of glycerol in water. The composition of the liquid medium was chosen to produce a mismatch between the refractive index of the particles ( n p ) and of the medium ( n m ) equal to the root mean square of the refractive index variation in polycrystalline magnesium fluoride. The variations of the scattering coefficients (γ) with volume fraction of silica microspheres for three different particle diameters (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 μm) were compared with theoretical predictions based on scattering efficiency of single particles ( K ) and linear extrapolation to multiparticle dispersed systems. The measured scattering coefficients were significantly greater than the theoretical values for particle volume fractions greater than 0.2. These results suggest that application of particle scattering theories to a birefringent polycrystalline ceramic, an intrinsically high volume fraction system, is tenuous at best.