Using a coaxial transmission line cell the sample (white) is loaded between the inner and outer conductors prior to analysis.

Dielectric services and facilities

CSIRO's Petrophysics Laboratory offers a range of dielectric measurement options in a broad frequency range for solid and drill cutting samples.

• 11 December 2008 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Overview
• Uses
• Facilities and capabilities
• Submitting samples

Overview

The CSIRO Petrophysics Laboratory conducts dielectric spectrographic analysis of rock samples including core samples provided by industry and other research organisations, as well as powdered drill cuttings samples.

A combination of instruments is used to achieve a complete coverage of frequencies from 1 mHz to 3 GHz and operation at overburden pressure.

Uses

Dielectric properties of rock are indicators of:

• wettability
• porosity
• mineralogy
• pore structure and
• pore geometry.

In industry, dielectric logging has the advantage of simplicity over many other logging techniques and is often much more rapid.

Dielectric logging may be able to offer satisfactory determination of moisture content and mechanical properties where other techniques such as NMR and laboratory analysis of core samples are slower and less cost effective.

It also provides useful information for resistivity logging, ground probing radar, borehole radar and SP logging.
 
The dielectric laboratory facilities have been used in the past for creating dielectric and resistivity logs from drill cuttings, looking for specific minerals such as pyrite, and assisting in interpreting other geological logs such as resistivity and radar.

Dielectric properties correlate well with the mechanical properties of rock and have potential use for well bore stability research.

Facilities and capabilities

Our dielectrics laboratory is located in Perth, Western Australia within the Australian Resources Research Centre, a technological hub for research and development aimed at the mineral and petroleum resources sector.

It has a complete range of dielectric measurement techniques which facilitate a range of dielectric measurement services suitable for many applications.

Our team of highly skilled experts have experience in radar log interpretation for:

• agriculture
• resources
• geotechnical and
• civil engineering applications.

We have provided services in the past for medical purposes and for the forest products industry.

Our dielectric facilities include all of the commonly recognised dielectric spectroscopy techniques below 3 GHz.

These include:

• loaded coaxial transmission lines
• end loaded coaxial transmission lines
• resonant cavity perturbation techniques
• parallel plate cells and
• waveguides.

To offer a complete range of services and information about rock samples, our Petrophysics Laboratory is also able to offer a range of other techniques, such as:

• x-ray tomography
• fluid porosimetry/permeametry
• NMR
• seismic propagation and
• triaxial testing.

To ensure that samples can be used with our range of dielectric cells, we also offer clients a range of machining and grinding services.

Submitting samples

Dielectric services are customised to each client’s individual requirements. CSIRO can suggest what kind of samples a client should provide and how the samples should be stored immediately after recovery to optimise the quality of the measurement procedure.

Our laboratory can facilitate measurement of single dielectric samples as well as batches of hundreds of samples.  Please contact us to discuss your individual requirements.

Read more about CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering.