Porosity of Metals/Alloys/Porous Solids with Design of Air Pycnometer

The physical properties of materials play an important role in production, handling and its utilization. Physical properties such as density, thermal conductivity and strength depend on the pore structure of the solids. A quick and accurate method of measuring the physical property like porosity is required for more efficient management of the process with density route. Number of devices were designed to determine the density of solids but are costly and not yet accurate. In this context a simple and low cost air pycnometer is designed which utilizes ideal gas principle to determine the amount of air space within a given material and further density. It is designed with steel chambers, solenoids along with pressure sensor interfaced with AT89C51 microcontroller. The computed densities are within the specified limits with accuracy less than 10%