A photochromic dye activation method for measuring the thickness of liquid films

Abstract

To measure the thickness of liquid films from 10 to 60 mum, we used photochromic dye activation. And we used silicone oil with 10 centi-Stokes and commercial photochromic dyes. To make films with exact and known thicknesses, we used two glass wafers. A film formed between two wafers after placing a drop of liquid of known volume on one wafer and covering the other. The film thickness could be estimated from the diameter of wafer and the dropped liquid volume. To quantitatively evaluate the result, captured the images using digital camera then analyzed the images using the image tool. The gray scale intensity using the captured images of activated dye with these thicknesses showed the repeatability below +/- 1.0% when measured with a silicone oil solution containing 0.1% SO and SO-ANTH dyes. And we showed that photochromic dye activation method could be used to measure our liquid film thickness ranges.