Classical Rheometry Research Articles

Microrheology of Poly(vinyl alcohol) Aqueous Solutions and Chemically Cross-Linked Gels

The motion of probe particles in aqueous solutions of linear and branched poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and in chemically cross-linked PVA gels has been studied by diffusing-wave spectroscopy. At long time scales the measurements allow to determine the effect of the cross-linking ratio on the macroscopic viscosity of sols and the shear modulus of gels. The local shear modulus of gels as obtained from the characteristic length of the Brownian cage was found to agree with that measured by classical rheometry and dynamic light scattering. The behavior of the mean-square displacement of the probe particles at short time indicates that the high-frequency viscoelasticity is the same for solutions and highly cross-linked gels whereas gels with low cross-linking ratio exhibit a lower storage modulus.

A versatile thermostatted glass tube MRI rheometer

A glass tube rheometer optimized for use with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner has been developed. Mounted on a trolley, its `plug-and-play' design allows flow- and temperature-equilibria to be attained before the rheometer is inserted in the magnet without disruption of the flow of fluids. Design principles, construction details and rheological test results for water, and aqueous solutions of sucrose (50% w/w) and xanthan gum (0.5% w/w) are presented. Results for water and aqueous sucrose in the temperature range 10-60 °C, which showed that measured shear viscosity was independent of the radial position, demonstrate that the temperature control is reliable. The good agreement of MRI measured viscosities with those produced by classical rheometry indicates the accuracy of the MRI rheometer. Results for 0.5% w/w aqueous xanthan gum reveal an initial time dependency before the flow reached a steady state. The initial time dependency was predominant for the fluid flowing in the central region of the tube; in contrast, the flow in the region near the wall showed the time-independent characteristic of power law fluid. Comparisons with data from cone-and-plate rheometry demonstrate the complementary power of MRI for studies of rheologically complex fluids; importantly, the MRI method can be used to measure the effects of `shear history' on the flow rheology.

NMR Study of Flow and Viscoelastic Properties of PBLG/m-Cresol Lyotropic Liquid Crystal

Director distortion patterns and backflow effects in transient flows of nematic solutions of PBLG/m-cresol are studied by deuteron NMR. The simulation of the observed NMR spectra as a function of time allows to characterise the director field pattern and to evaluate most of the viscoelastic properties of the system. A good agreement with classical rheometry is observed.

Compliance of actin filament networks measured by particle-tracking microrheology and diffusing wave spectroscopy

We monitor the time-dependent shear compliance of a solution of semi-flexible polymers, using diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS) and video-enhanced single-particle-tracking (SPT) microrheology. These two techniques use the small thermally excited motion of probing microspheres to interrogate the local properties of polymer solutions. The solutions consist of networks of actin filaments which are long semi-flexible polymers. We establish a relationship between the mean square displacement (MSD) of microspheres imbedded in the solution and the time-dependent creep compliance of the solution, <Δr 2(t)>=(k B T/πa)J(t). Here, J(t) is the creep compliance, <Δr 2(t)> is the mean-square displacement, and a is the radius of the microsphere chosen to be larger than the mesh size of the polymer network. DWS allows us to measure mean square displacements with microsecond temporal resolution and Angstrom spatial resolution. At short times, the mean square displacement of a 0.96μm diameter sphere in a concentrated actin solution displays sub-diffusion. <Δr 2(t)>∝t , with a characteristic exponent =0.78±0.05, which reflects the finite rigidity of actin. At long times, the MSD reaches a plateau, with a magnitude that decreases with concentration. The creep compliance is shown to be a weak function of polymer concentration and scales as J p ∝c –1.2±0.3. This exponent is correctly described by a recent model describing the viscoelasticity of semi-flexible polymer solutions. The DWS and video-enhanced SPT measurements of the compliance plateau agree quantitatively with compliance measured independently using classical mechanical rheometry for a viscous oil and for a solution of flexible polymers. This paper extends the use of DWS and single-particle-tracking to probe the local mechanical properties of polymer networks, shows for the first time the proportionality between mean square displacement and local creep compliance, and therefore presents a new, direct way to extract the viscoelastic properties of polymer systems and complex fluids.