The study of temperature effect on %DRC measurement accuracies using a Six-port Reflectometer technique at frequencies 1,1.5 and 2.16 GHz

Abstract

This research presents the effect of temperature in rubber latex on the measured electrical power. While measuring the dry rubber content in the latex with Six-Port Reflectometer (SPR) at frequencies are 1,1.5 and 2.16 GHz. This research prepares rubber latex samples from dilute concentrate rubber latexes in the range of 20-60 %DRC and in the temperature range of 20-45 °C.  We aim to study the effect of rubber latex temperature cause to reflected power obtained from SPR. The measurement with the SPR technique uses a wide-band microwave oscillator, a six-port circuit, a tunable matching circuit, and a microcontroller for collecting latex temperature. This research uses 3 frequencies value consisting of 1,1.5 and 2.16 GHz. Those frequencies are transmitted to SPR and measure the %DRC of samples. From the study, we found the linearity between the powers read from SPR and %DRC and the effect of rubber latex temperature on the power read from SPR. With a coefficient of determination (R²) and coefficient of variation (CV(%)) respectively. From the test results, it was found that at a frequency of 1 GHz, the power value had the most linear relationship with the %DRC value, so it was suitable for measuring the %DRC value as close to the actual %DRC value of latex as possible. As for the effect of latex temperature on the power value read from SPR, it was found that at a frequency of 2.16 GHz, the coefficient of variability of latex was the least. This means it is affected by the lowest latex temperature.