Patent ID: 6497139
Filing Date: 2002-12-24
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
A method for characterizing a porous permeable object including the following steps:placing the object in an air-tight container; creating a partial vacuum in the container containing the aforesaid object; measuring the residual pressure in the container in which the partial vacuum is formed; introducing a quantity of polarized gas into the container having said partial vacuum; measuring the pressure in the container after introduction of the aforesaid quantity of polarized gas; determining the density of the polarized gas introduced into the container from the aforesaid pressure measurements; conducting an NMR measurement of the mass quantity of polarized gas contained in a known volume of the object placed in the air-tight container; and determining of the porosity of the object by calculating the ratio of the mass quantity of polarized gas to the density of the polarized gas introduced into the container.