Measurement of ultrasonic absorption in a gel by light diffraction and resonator methods

A new sample cell construction for a light diffraction method permits absolute measurements of the ultrasonic absorption coefficient for a strongly absorbing transparent gel. By means of this cell the absorption coefficient at 6.2 MHz has been measured as a function of the temperature in the gelling temperature range for a 25% (w/w) aqueous solution of the ABA polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene block copolymer PLURONIC^R F 127. The resonator method has been used under the same experimental conditions. The strongly absorbing gel causes overlapping of the resonance signals. A calibration based on resonance experiments compared with the absolute measurements yields a solution to that problem and thus makes the resonator method applicable to a strongly absorbing gel.