Instruments rheological

To address these challenges, chemical engineers will need state-of-the-art analytical instruments, particularly those that can provide information about microstmctures for sizes down to atomic dimensions, surface properties in the presence of bulk fluids, and dynamic processes with time constants of less than a nanosecond. It will also be essential that chemical engineers become familiar with modem theoretical concepts of surface physics and chemistry, colloid physical chemistry, and rheology, particrrlarly as it apphes to free surface flow and flow near solid bormdaries. The application of theoretical concepts to rmderstanding the factors controlling surface properties and the evaluation of complex process models will require access to supercomputers. 

Traditionally, rheology was a subject concerned principally with mechanical properties. The principal instrument used for mechanical analysis of complex... 

Suspensions are generally evaluated with respect to their particle size, electrokinetic properties (zeta potential), and rheological characteristics. A detailed discussion on the methods/techniques and relevant instrumentation is given in Sec. VII. A number of evaluating methods done specifically with suspension dosage forms, such as sedimentation volume, redispersibility, and specific gravity measurements, will be treated in this section. 

A computer-controlled rheology laboratory has been constructed to study and optimize fluids used in hydraulic fracturing applications. Instruments consist of both pressurized capillary viscometers and concentric cylinder rotational viscometers. Computer control, data acquisition and analysis are accomplished by two Hewlett Packard 1000 computers. Custom software provides menu-driven programs for Instrument control, data retrieval and data analysis. 

The fluids which are used in the hydraulic fracturing process can be quite complex. Laboratory research and development on these fluids require many hours of rheology testing to discover suitable compositions and systems. To speed this process, an automated stimulation fluid rheology laboratory was constructed. In this paper, we describe the types of instruments which are used in this laboratory, the computer system, and how t.vr cal experiments are set up, run, and results stored and analyzed. In the accompanying paper (Part II), the focus is on the automation of one of the more complex Instruments in this laboratory. 

Rheology Laboratory—Part II An Automated Instrument for Continuous Rheology Evaluation," submitted to the ACS Symposium, Division of Polymeric Materials Science and... 

An instrument for the study of the rheological properties of substances. The name is usually applied to the particular instrument designed by Professor Weissenberg. 

In this section we deal with perhaps the most conceptually difficult of all the responses observed in linear viscoelastic materials. This is the response of a material to an oscillating stress or strain. This is an area that illustrates why rheological techniques can be considered as mechanical spectroscopy. When a sample is constrained in, say, a cone and plate assembly, an oscillating strain at a given frequency can be applied to the sample. After an initial start-up period, a stress develops in direct response to the applied strain due to transient sample and instrumental responses. If the strain has an oscillating value with time the stress must also be oscillating with time. We can represent these two wave-forms as in Figure 4.6. 

Unfortunately the high Peclet number regime is where many rheological measurements are most easily made. High stresses and strain rates allow the development of simpler instrumental designs and lower sensitivities are required. It is also important to be aware of the fact that many applications require very high deformation regimes and it is... 

There are a number of techniques that are used to measure polymer viscosity. For extrusion processes, capillary rheometers and cone and plate rheometers are the most commonly used devices. Both devices allow the rheologist to simultaneously measure the shear rate and the shear stress so that the viscosity may he calculated. These instruments and the analysis of the data are presented in the next sections. Only the minimum necessary mathematical development will he presented. The mathematical derivations are provided in Appendix A3. A more complete development of all pertinent rheological measurement functions for these rheometers are found elsewhere [9]. 

---