Rheometry

Rheology is the study of how matter flows in response to stress and the technique can be used to determine the functional properties of liquids and soft solids, such as viscosity, to help us to understand how they will behave in operation.

Rheology can also be used to understand how a material may have changed during use or following modification which can help during failure investigation and during studies to develop liquids with specific properties.

Our state of the art Rheometer possesses hot-stage functionality, which greatly expands the range of sample materials that can be analysed.

When subjected to stresses (shear stress in the case of liquids) matter undergoes deformation to greater or lesser degrees. By measuring the force required to deform a material, or the resistance to the force applied, information on the plasticity of the material is obtained. This information can inform the viscoelastic properties of a sample by applying the information together with non-Newtonian fluid dynamics. Our instrument has a Peltier stage allowing studies across the range of 0 – 200^oC.

Rheology can be applied to a wide range of liquid and soft-solid sample types ranging from organic polymers to adhesives. We have dedicated building material equipment for the analysis of concrete slurries and mixes etc.

Theoretical studies can allow future predictions of flow behaviour to facilitate modifications to existing fluids or the development of novel ones.

The use of active temperature control potentially allows solid samples to be analysed too.

For analysing low viscosity samples 300ml is required whereas higher viscosity samples can be analysed with volumes ranging from 20 to 50ml (or 20 to 50g for semi-solids).