Volume 21, Issue 6

Concentrated gypsum slurries used for wallboard production are studied using shear and elongational rheometers. It is shown that the rheological behavior of different slurry compositions can be sufficiently accurately described in the framework of the Ostwald-de Waele power law, which reproduces both shear and elongational experimemtal data with sufficiently close values of the consistency and flow behavior indexes for each slurry composition studied.

Viscoelastic properties are traditionally measured using sophisticated instrumentation, and the high cost of these rheometers may limit utility. This research attempts to enable viscometers that can provide a torque-time response, with vane attachment and a recommended cup size, to measure viscoelastic properties. Phase angles and shear moduli of model systems (gelatin and polyacrylamide gels) were calculated using torque-time response and deformation zone concept. The methods were applied to data obtained from Brookfield YR-I viscometer and the calculated values were compared with the data obtained from oscillatory testing on a stress controlled rheometer. The methods were improved in several areas by testing different cup sizes, rotational speeds, and viscometers and correcting torque-time responses to obtain most accurate results possible. The developed method, along with the torque-time response obtained from the viscometer, was capable of measuring viscoelastic parameters for the tested materials and further development could design a new quality control device directed towards viscoelastic property measurement.

We herein describe a set of rheological measurements that were carried out in order to characterize the solidification of photopolymers. The solidification depends on the length of time of exposure to UV light, and the intensity of that light, which reduces with distance from the irradiative surface. Liquid prepolymer was solidified inside the gap of a parallel disk rheometer by irradiation of the prepolymer with UV light through a fixed quartz disk. The rheological time-dependent changes were measured and analyzed for both unidirectional and oscillatory shear. The results were compared with those obtained by direct measurement in the absence of shear. When the thickness of the sample was less than 0.1 mm, the analysis for unidirectional shear flow yielded a reasonable agreement for both critical exposure and solidified depth. When the thickness was greater than 0.1 mm, the application of unidirectional shear delayed the start of the solidification but then caused it to occur more rapidly. This dependence of the solidification on the thickness of the sample was more significant for dispersed systems of nanotubes and for dynamic measurements made under oscillatory shear. The increase in viscosity due to photopolymerization was also estimated, and its effect was discussed.

A new conceptual non-contact method for liquid viscosity measurement in capillary tube using mobile phone as the data acquisition facility is proposed. The video and image for the capillary force driven flow of the test liquid was recorded by the phone camera. After the imaging reconstruction of the flow velocity in the horizontal capillary and the capillary head in the vertical direction, a digital image processing software was developed to calculate the liquid viscosity in MATLAB 2007b environment, recurring to the established theoretical correlation for flow mechanics. To demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the method, 10 groups of liquid were measured and the results were compared with the data obtained from a standard rotating viscometer. The relative error was found falling in the range of 0 ~ 20 %. This study establishes a pervasive low cost way for viscosity measurement of various solutions.