Flow behaviour index

In the specific case of polymer melts these almost invariably are of the pseudoplastic type. In such cases the flow behaviour index n is less than 1 the greater the divergence from Newtonian behaviour the lower its value. 

Effect of increase of On viscosity On flow behaviour index On critical shear rate On sharkskin... 

The rheological properties of a particular suspension may be approximated reasonably well by either a power-law or a Bingham-plastic model over the shear rate range of 10 to 50 s. If the consistency coefficient k is 10 N s, /m-2 and the flow behaviour index n is 0.2 in the power law model, what will be the approximate values of the yield stress and of the plastic viscosity in the Bingham-plastic model ... 

The latter form is required to reflect the fact that the direction of the shear stress must reverse when the shear rate is reversed, and to overcome objections such as y , and therefore r, having imaginary values when y is negative. The power n is known as the power law index or flow behaviour index, and K as the consistency coefficient. 

In equation 3.51, p is the density and n the power law flow behaviour index of the fluid. 51 and S2 are the cross-sectional areas of the smaller and larger pipes respectively and u the volumetric average velocity in the smaller pipe. 

Fig.5. The relationship between viscosity and shear rate for zirconia/wax binder injection moulding formulations (at 100 °C). n is the flow behaviour index. Ceramic filler volume fraction (%) ( ) 50 (A) 55 (V) 60 (O) 65 (+) 70 [26]...

The simple concept of an average mixer shear rate has been widely used in laboratory and industrial work and in most applications it has been assumed that the shear rate constant, k, is only a function of impeller type. Research is continuing on the possible influence of flow behaviour index and elastic properties, and also on procedures necessary to describe power consumption for dilatant fluids. It should be noted that in all aspects of power prediction and data analysis, power law models (equation 8.12) should only be used with caution. Apparent variability of k, may be due to inappropriate use of power law equations when calculations are made it should be ascertained that the average shear rates of interest (y = k N) lie within the range of the power law viscometric data. 

In these equations, m and n are two empirical curve-fitting parameters and are known as the fluid consistency coefficient and the flow behaviour index respectively. For a shear-thinning fluid, the index may have any value between 0 and 1. The smaller the value of n, the greater is the degree of shear-thinning. For a shear-thickening fluid, the index n will be greater than unity. When n = 1, equations (1.12) and (1.13) reduce to equation (1.1) which describes Newtonian fluid behaviour. 

This suggests that any correction factor which will cause the holdup data for shear-thinning fluids to collapse onto the Newtonian curve, must become progressively smaller as the liquid velocity increases and the flow behaviour index, n, decreases. Based on such intuitive and heuristic considerations, Farooqi and Richardson [1982] proposed a correction factor, J, to be applied to the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter, x, so that a modified parameter Xmod is defined as ... 

Of all the physico-chemical properties, it is the rheology which shows the strongest temperature dependence. For instance, the decrease in apparent viscosity at a fixed shear rate is well represented by the Arrhenius-type exponential expression the pre-exponential factor and the activation energy are then both fimctions of shear rate. It is thus customary to denote the temperature dependence using rheological constants such as the power-law consistency coefficient and flow behaviour index. It is now reasonably well established that the flow behaviour index, n, of suspensions, polymer melts and solutions is nearly independent of temperature, at least over a range of 40-50°C, whereas the consistency coefficient exhibits an exponential dependence on temperature, i.e. 

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