Quick detection of water content in fine iron powder

Abstract

During production or commercialization of fine iron powder, water content is the most important parameter for evaluating and controlling the fine iron powder properties. In order to improve the portability, operability, and speed of the water determination and to reduce testing cost, a new method to quickly detect the water content in fine iron powder using capacitance type sensor is put forward. The basic principle and characteristics of this measuring technique are examined. Structure and testing circuit for the capacity sensor are designed with parameters optimized through experimental research. A mathematical model to correlate water content to the capacitance is proposed. The present work had laid the foundation for developing an utility-type fast detecting device for water content in fine iron powder which can be adopted in real-time monitoring for processing or trading of fine iron powder.