Abstract

A combined rheometer and light scattering photometer has been constructed to examine the light scattering behavior of polymer melts and solutions under the influence of a simple shear field. The device utilizes a special lens system and a two-dimensional charge-coupled device array detector which has not been used previously in an apparatus of this type to quantitatively measure the scattering intensity as a function of shear rate. The accessible q range of the instrument is from 3.75×10−4 to 3.0×10−3 nm−1 (2.2°–17.4° scattering angle, with λ=632.8 nm). The rheometer utilizes a cone and plate geometry to generate the shear gradient and is capable of measuring torque (1.8 N m maximum) and normal forces (50 N maximum). An 8% solution of a 50:50 polystyrene/polybutadiene blend in dioctyl phthalate was used to test the apparatus. This sample shows a shear-induced mixing behavior which is consistent with previous measurements by other investigators.

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