Development of temperature sensor using rare earth materials Progress in related research of China Metrology University
Release date: July 9, 2019
As a mineral resource that plays an important role in military, metallurgical industry, petrochemical industry, glass ceramics and other fields, rare earth is defined as “strategic material” by most countries. In recent years, researchers have done a lot of research on how to make good use of rare earths and continuously expand their application fields. Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, the team of Zhao Shilong of China Metrology University has made an in-depth study on rare earth-doped oxyfluoride glass-ceramics fiber for temperature sensors. It is reported that this project was officially concluded in April this year, and a series of innovative results have been obtained.
Zhao Shilong introduced that people have invented various temperature sensors, such as traditional thermocouples, thermal resistors and radiation thermometers, but most of these temperature sensors can only be used in traditional occasions. Due to the expanding application range of temperature measurement, the innovation, research and development of temperature detection have been going on, and the conventional temperature sensor can no longer meet the requirements in many fields, especially in high-tech fields.
“Compared with traditional temperature sensors, optical fiber temperature sensors have the characteristics of high reliability, good insulation, anti-electromagnetic interference, good repeatability, fast response and low price, which has become one of the important directions of research and development of new temperature sensors.” Zhao Shilong said that it is especially suitable for temperature measurement in harsh environments, such as high current, high magnetic field, flammability, explosion and corrosion, and has high research value and broad application prospects.
In the project of Zhao Shilong’s team, the research team conducted research based on the characteristics of fluorescent optical fiber temperature sensor, which uses the luminescence of some metal ions, especially rare earth ions, in different substrates, and establishes the relationship between the fluorescence parameters of metal ions in the substrate and the temperature, so as to obtain the temperature of the substance to be measured.
“Through the design and optimization of composition and process of oxyfluoride glass-ceramics, a highly transparent rare earth doped oxyfluoride glass-ceramics was obtained, and the influence of glass composition on temperature sensing sensitivity such as glass network structure and physical and chemical properties was systematically analyzed.” Zhao Shilong said that the rare-earth doped oxyfluoride glass-ceramic fiber matrix material developed in this project can provide scientific basis and technical reserves for developing special optical fibers with independent intellectual property rights and developing high-precision optical fiber temperature sensors. Thirteen SCI papers have been published in this project, including 5 papers from TOP journals, 3 national patents granted and 5 graduate students trained. During the implementation of the project, Zhao Shilong was selected as the leader of young and middle-aged disciplines in colleges and universities in Zhejiang Province and won the title of outstanding teacher in Zhejiang Province in 2018.
(Source: Zhejiang Online)