Ultrasonically Determined Fill Pressure and Density in Closed Spherical Shells

Experiments have been conducted in which the D₂ fill pressure has been determined for several closed millimeter-size aluminum and beryllium shells. The vibrational resonance frequency spectrum of the shells was used to calculate the sound velocity of the interior gas. This velocity, along with the equation-of-state, determined the gas pressure and density. The accuracy in determining the fill conditions is within 0.5% in both pressure and density for near critical density (ρ ≳ 9 mol/L) gas over a wide range of temperatures (190 K to 300K). Reduced accuracy was apparent at low density. An attempt was made to determine the fill density of one shell by acoustic observation of the dew point temperature. While this temperature was recorded very accurately, the uncertainty in the saturated vapor density curve near the critical point yielded inaccurate results. These methods were shown to be unaffected by small deviations in the sphericity of the gas-filled cavity.