Nondestructive, Microwave Testing of Compression Strength and Moisture Content of Green Molding Sands

A nondestructive microwave testing method to control the green compression strength and moisture content was proposed and demonstrated. There are various green moulding sands, both qualitative (bentonite type) and quantitative (bentonite and water content), prepared. The permittivity measurements were performed by cavity perturbation technique (CPT) at 2.45 GHz. Relative complex permittivity of the bentonite bonded moulding sands is proportional to the bentonite and moisture content and is inversely proportional to green compressive strength. It was shown that the obtained permittivity value of the molding sands be used to investigate the green compression strength and moisture content.

Assessment of Water Saturation Using Dielectric Permittivity Measurements in Formations with Complex Pore Structure: Application to the Core- and Log- Scale Domains

Broadband dielectric dispersion measurements are attractive options for assessment of water-filled pore volume, especially when quantifying salt concentration is challenging. However, conventional models for interpretation of dielectric measurements such as Complex Refractive Index Model (CRIM) and Maxwell Garnett (MG) model require oversimplifying assumptions about pore structure and distribution of constituting fluids/minerals. Therefore, dielectric-based estimates of water saturation are often not reliable in the presence of complex pore structure, rock composition, and rock fabric (i.e., spatial distribution of solid/fluid components). The objectives of this paper are (a) to propose a simple workflow for interpretation of dielectric permittivity measurements in log-scale domain, which takes the impacts of complex pore geometry and distribution of minerals into account, (b) to experimentally verify the reliability of the introduced workflow in the core-scale domain, and (c) to apply the introduced workflow for well-log-based assessment of water saturation. The dielectric permittivity model includes tortuosity-dependent parameters to honor the complexity of the pore structure and rock fabric for interpretation of broadband dielectric dispersion measurements. We estimate tortuosity-dependent parameters for each rock type from dielectric permittivity measurements conducted on core samples. To verify the reliability of dielectric-based water saturation model, we conduct experimental measurements on core plugs taken from a carbonate formation with complex pore structures. We also introduce a workflow for applying the introduced model to dielectric dispersion well logs for depth-by-depth assessment of water saturation. The tortuosity-dependent parameters in log-scale domain can be estimated either via experimental core-scale calibration, well logs in fully water-saturated zones, or pore-scale evaluation in each rock type. The first approach is adopted in this paper. We successfully applied the introduced model on core samples and well logs from a pre-salt formation in Santos Basin. In the core-scale domain, the estimated water saturation using the introduced model resulted in an average relative error of less than 11% (compared to gravimetric measurements). The introduced workflow improved water saturation estimates by 91% compared to CRIM. Results confirmed the reliability of the new dielectric model. In application to well logs, we observed significant improvements in water saturation estimates compared to cases where a conventional effective medium model (i.e., CRIM) was used. The documented results from both core-scale and well-log-scale applications of the introduced method emphasize on the importance of honoring pore structure in the interpretation of dielectric measurements.

Ionic Conductivity and Dielectric Relaxation of NASICON Superionic Conductors at the Near-Cryogenic Regime

With a crystal lattice structure first characterized in the 1970s, NASICON sodium-based superionic conductors have recently found renewed interest as solid electrolytes in sodium-ion and seawater flow batteries due to their exceptional ionic conductivity being on the same scale as liquid electrolytes. Since sodium ions in the crystal lattice move among interstitial positions through site-specific bottlenecks, the overall conductivity is strongly dependent on the NASICON composition. In this work, we report on the synthesis protocols and processing parameters of Na3Zr2Si2PO12 prepared from Na2CO3, SiO2, ZrO2, and NH4H2PO4 precursors by the conventional solid-state reaction (SSR) route. We critically evaluated important observations made in the extended literature on the topic including: (i) the importance of precursor particle size concerning the SSR synthesis, focusing on effective ball-milling protocols; and (ii) the onset of excess zirconia contamination, expanding on the effects of both thermal and pressure processing—the latter often overlooked in the available literature. In approaching the cryogenic regime, the dataset availability concerning ionic conductivity and dielectric permittivity measurements for NASICON was extended, starting from elevated temperatures at 200 °C and reaching into the very low temperature zone at −100 °C.

Numerical Modeling of Multi-Frequency Complex Dielectric Permittivity Dispersion of Clay-Rich Rocks

Interpretation of complex dielectric permittivity measurements is challenging in clay-rich rocks, such as shaly sands and organic-rich mudrocks, due to complex rock fabric and mineralogical composition, which are overlooked by conventional interpretation models. For instance, the impact of fabric features (e.g., laminations, structural/dispersed shale) and diverse constitution (e.g., clay, kerogen, pyrite, brine) to the broadband complex permittivity is not well understood. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to develop a framework capable of reliably quantifying the impact of different minerals and their corresponding spatial distribution on the multi-frequency complex dielectric permittivity measurements in clay-rich rocks.To achieve the aforementioned objective, we introduce a numerical algorithm to compute the dielectric dispersion in 3D pore-scale images of clay-rich rocks. We numerically solve the quasi-electrostatic approximation to Maxwell's equations in the frequency domain through the finite volume method. The clay particles are often sub-resolution in most imaging methods. Therefore, we introduce a workflow to calculate the effective admittance of the clay network. Furthermore, we derive a new equation to incorporate the induced polarization effect into the effective admittance of pyrite particles. Finally, we perform a sensitivity analysis of the complex dielectric permittivity of clay-rich rocks in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 GHz to the volumetric concentration and spatial distribution of clays, cation exchange capacity (CEC), volumetric concentration of pyrite, and the orientation of the electric field. Results showed that clays can enhance or diminish electrical conductivity values at different frequencies depending on their intrinsic properties and spatial distribution. Laminations, for instance, significantly enhance dielectric permittivity in the sub-MHz frequency range, but their effect is imperceptible at 1 GHz. Furthermore, the impact of the variation of CEC on permittivity is approximately proportional at 100Hz but negligible at 1 GHz.