Wide Range Of Shear Rates Research Articles

Injectable carboxymethyl chitosan/nanosphere-based hydrogel with dynamic crosslinking network for efficient lubrication and sustained drug release

The typical symptoms of arthritis are inflammation and lubrication deficiency in joints, which increase wear of articular cartilage along with pain of patients. In the present study, one kind of novel macromolecular/microsphere-based injectable hydrogels (CMC-ODex NPs) with dual functionalities of drug release and lubrication, was fabricated via dynamic Schiff base crosslinking network between carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) and oxidation dextran nanoparticles (ODex NPs). The CMC-ODex NPs hydrogels exhibited typical viscosity-thinning phenomenon at wide range of shear rates and obvious gel-sol transition feature at specific strain. As a result, CMC-ODex NPs hydrogels presented low friction coefficient at the sliding interface of bovine articular cartilages, resulting from the boundary lubrication of hydrogel and the rolling friction effect of ODex NPs. Furthermore, the anti-inflammatory drug (dexamethasone, DXM) encapsulated in ODex NPs exhibited sustainable drug release behavior during the dynamic shearing process, which making CMC-ODex NPs hydrogels possessed good and stable anti-inflammatory effect. CMC-ODex NPs hydrogels was prepared without utilizing any toxic agents, thus demonstrated excellent cytocompatibility. Our experimental results reveal the CMC-ODex NPs hydrogels is promising to be used as functional lubricant for inhibiting the development of arthritis.

Role of Goldenberry (Fruits with Husk) Extract in Ameliorating the Architecture and Osmotic Fragility of Red Blood Cells in Obese Rats.

Goldenberry (GB) is a promising fruit that can be a constituent in many possible nourishments. No notifications were obtained regarding the impact of exposure to goldenberry extract in the viewpoint of blood rheological properties as well as erythrocyte osmotic fragility of red blood cells (RBCs) in obese rats. A substantial reduction in plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol, and LDL, with a considerable increment in HDL levels relative to the obese group (p ≤ 0.05), was observed in rats receiving low and high doses of GB, accompanied by restoration of SOD activity and GSH levels. Rheological parameters of rats' blood have been studied over a wide range of shear rates (225-1875 s-1). A significant decrease in blood viscosity in rats who received low and high doses of GB extract was compatible with every shear rate compared to the control group. The shear stress values of the obese rats reduced appreciably (p ≤ 0.05) in all values of shear rate (from 75 to 500 s-1) proportional to the control group, while in the groups that received low and high doses of GB extract, shear stress was restored to the control values. Finally, administration of GB extract significantly decreased yield stress and indices of whole blood aggregation, with an extremely substantial increment in flow rate, in rats given low or high doses of GB compared to obese ones. The result also showed a decrease in both the average raised osmotic fragility and the hemolysis rate in rats after supplementation with low and high doses of GB extract.

Problem solution analysis on finding the velocity distribution for laminar flow of a non-linear viscous flushing fluid in the annular space of a well

Modern drilling fluids are non-linear viscous media with an initial shear stress. In classical scientific works on hydromechanical modeling of drilling fluids motion in pipes and annular channels the Shvedov – Bingham approximation and Ostwald – de Waale power-law model were used, which did not fully account for behavior of technological fluids in a wide range of shear rates. This article presents a numerical solution for a mathematical model of drilling fluid motion of the three-parameter Herschel – Bulkley rheological model in the annular space of the well. The Herschel – Bulkley model in the rheological equation takes into account the presence of initial shear stress and a tendency for viscosity to change with shear rate, which distinguishes it from the Ostwald – de Waale and Shvedov – Bingham models. The target function in solving the equation of motion is the velocity distribution in the radial direction of the upward flow of the flushing fluid. The analysis of obtained solution is based on the theory of velocity profile influence on quality of cuttings removal during wellbore cleaning. Due to peculiarities of mathematical statement of the task, which supposes necessity of differential equation of motion solution, Wolfram Mathematica computational software has been used as a calculation tool. The analysis of numerical solution allowed to draw conclusions about the possibility of its application in evaluation of velocity profile when drilling fluid moves in annular space of the well. The possibility for application of modified excess coefficient as a relative quantitative parameter for evaluation of velocity profile uniformity was substantiated.

Single-polymer dynamics of starch-like branched ring polymers in steady shear flow

The stretching dynamics and dynamical behaviors of individual branched ring polymer (BRP), a coarse-grained model for some types of the starch, in steady shear flow are studied by using a hybrid mesoscale simulation approach that combines multiparticle collision dynamics with standard molecular dynamics. By analyzing the stretched configuration of BRPs, we find the polymer size increases nonmonotonically with increasing branch length. Meanwhile, the decrease of the alignment angle of the stretched configuration of BRPs follows a universal power law during the first downward phase as the shear rate increases. Constructing the three-dimensional surface of the polymer's ring backbone and tracing the temporal fluctuations of the surface's normal vector along the simulation trajectory, the tumbling and tank-treading motion are clearly reflected by periodic and non-periodic changes of the normal vector. Interestingly, these temporal changes are much more regular than that of the gyration tensor. Thus, a novel cross-correlation function, which is the correlation between fluctuations of the normal vector along the flow direction and the velocity-gradient direction, is proposed to analyze the tumbling motion that usually coexists with the tank-treading motion. This function can naturally address the fails of traditional method that analyzing the tumbling motion by determining the correlation of temporal fluctuations of the gyration tensor Gαα. By analyzing the dynamical behaviors of BRPs, diverse dependences of the tumbling frequency ωTB and tank-treading frequency ωTT on the shear rate γ̇ are observed at a wide range of shear rates and polymer sizes. Furthermore, our simulations also reveal that the tank-treading motion is more stable than the tumbling motion for small-branch-size BRPs but the tumbling motion is more stable than the tank-treading motion for large-branch-size BRPs.

A method to measure non-Newtonian fluids viscosity using inertial viscometer with a computer vision system

The theory of rheology of non-Newtonian fluids is based on the generalized Newtonian hypothesis of viscosity. The viscometers for non-Newtonian fluids should implement fluid flows with the known stress and strain state parameters distributions. Ideally, the distributions should be homogeneous in the flow domain. The idea of the proposed method is based on a combination of a capillary and a rotational viscometers implemented in the torus-shaped capillary viscometer. Analysis of the mathematical model of the inertial non-Newtonian fluid flow in the torus allowed to determine the conditions of homogeneity of the mechanical and thermal parameters in the flow domain and to develop method of viscosity measurement. The measured values are the shear rate on the inner surface of the capillary and the flow rate. The measurements are implemented with the computer vision system that processes data obtained from the high speed CMOS camera that records inertial flow in the transparent capillary illuminated with laser. The computer vision system is based on the application of deep convolutional neural network for laser speckle contrast imaging processing. During the experiments, the proposed viscometer was compared with the Brookfield rotational viscometer. The relative error of the proposed viscometer and method is less than 2%. The inertial viscometer is compact, it allows to study the wide range of shear rates per one test in automatic mode, and it has low fluid capacity of approximately 1.87 ml. That makes it possible to use the viscometer as a point on care testing device in medicine to study the rheology of physiological fluids, in particular blood.

Characterization of magnetorheological fluids based on capillary magneto-rheometer

Magnetorheological fluids (MRFs) are a class of smart magnetic controlled materials whose rheological properties can be controlled by a magnetic field. These materials have advantages of short response time, high dynamic range and low energy consumption. Due to their excellent properties, MRFs have a widely application potential in the field of impact mitigation. As the shear rate dependent viscosity of MRFs is astonishing for the shear thinning effect, thus it is crucial to study the rheological properties cross a wide range of shear rates for guiding the design and application of MRFs based adaptive impact absorbers. Commercial rotational rheometers are usually used to test the rheological properties of MRFs, but their range of measuring shear rates are limited. Commercial capillary rheometers are designed to measure the rheological behavior over a wide range of shear rates, but they’re usually lack of ability to measure with magnetic field. In order to study the rheological properties of MRFs under higher shear rate and applied magnetic field, a lab-made speed-controlled capillary magneto-rheometer is developed in the presnt work; The expressions for equivalent shear rate and apparent viscosity of MRFs under the dimensional constraint of the set-up are derived. In addition, the theoretical expression of shear rate of MRFs is modified by Rabinowitsch correction. Then, the rheological properties of three particle volume fractions (10%, 15%, and 20%)of MRFs with different magnetic field strengths (6 mT, 13 mT, 20 mT, and 25 mT)are tested and analyzed, and the rheological characteristic curves of MRFs with shear rate range of 101s−1–105s−1 are obtained with the normalized characterization using Mason number. According to the experimental results, the MRFs show an obvious shear thinning phenomenon as shear rate increases, and in the Mason number based normalized characterization, the curves of different particle volume fractions are collapse to a master curve.

Thixotropic behavior of a glass melt of nuclear interest containing platinum group metal particles

Platinum group metals (PGM) particles are generally found in nuclear borosilicate glasses resulting from the melting, at 1200 °C, of a glass precursor and fission products issued from spent fuel reprocessing. Contrary to some other elements, such as iron, nickel, and chromium, these particles are not incorporated chemically in molten glasses. During the melting step, the presence of these metals as suspended particles of a few microns has an impact on the rheological properties of the material, leading to a non-Newtonian behavior. Their impact on the process is the object of characterization and modeling of many studies that have established that the melt presents a shear-thinning and thixotropic behavior. In this work, a deeper analysis of the thixotropic behavior of a simulated nuclear glass melt containing 3.0 wt% (1.02 vol%) of PGM particles is presented. Steady and transient state rheological measurements were performed over a wide shear rate range using a stress-imposed rheometer at temperatures ranging from 1100 to 1250 °C. A mathematical modeling of the glass melt suspension thixotropic behavior is presented for the first time, using a thixotropic model akin to that proposed by Moore. This model is found to explain and predict successfully the rheological behavior of the material. In particular, it allows predicting the transient behavior of the samples from steady-state experiments, without additional adjustable parameters. The present study thus provides an important input for the modeling of the vitrification process.

Von Willebrand factor unfolding mediates platelet deposition in a model of high-shear thrombosis

Thrombosis under high-shear conditions is mediated by the mechanosensitive blood glycoprotein von Willebrand factor (vWF). vWF unfolds in response to strong flow gradients and facilitates rapid recruitment of platelets in flowing blood. While the thrombogenic effect of vWF is well recognized, its conformational response in complex flows has largely been omitted from numerical models of thrombosis. We recently presented a continuum model for the unfolding of vWF, where we represented vWF transport and its flow-induced conformational change using convection-diffusion-reaction equations. Here, we incorporate the vWF component into our multi-constituent model of thrombosis, where the local concentration of stretched vWF amplifies the deposition rate of free-flowing platelets and reduces the shear cleaning of deposited platelets. We validate the model using three benchmarks: in vitro model of atherothrombosis, a stagnation point flow, and the PFA-100, a clinical blood test commonly used for screening for von Willebrand disease (vWD). The simulations reproduced the key aspects of vWF-mediated thrombosis observed in these experiments, such as the thrombus location, thrombus growth dynamics, and the effect of blocking platelet-vWF interactions. The PFA-100 simulations closely matched the reported occlusion times for normal blood and several hemostatic deficiencies, namely, thrombocytopenia, vWD type 1, and vWD type 3. Overall, this multi-constituent model of thrombosis enables macro-scale 3D simulations of thrombus formation in complex geometries over a wide range of shear rates and accounts for qualitative and quantitative hemostatic deficiencies in patient blood.

Biopolymer Filament Entanglement Softens Then Hardens with Shear.

It is unsatisfactory that regarding the problem of entangled macromolecules driven out of equilibrium, experimentally based understanding is usually inferred from the ensemble average of polydisperse samples. Here, confronting with single-molecule imaging this common but poorly understood situation, over a wide range of shear rate we use single-molecule fluorescence imaging to track alignment and stretching of entangled aqueous filamentous actin filaments in a homebuilt rheo-microscope. With increasing shear rate, tube "softening" is followed by "hardening." Physically, this means that dynamical localization first weakens from molecular alignment, then strengthens from filament stretching, even for semiflexible biopolymers shorter than their persistence length.

Investigation of the Properties of Polyphenylene Sulfone Blends.

Polyphenylene sulfones (PPSU) blends with different viscosities have been studied. It is shown that the blends have a single-phase structure, regardless of the viscosities of the mixed polymers. It was found that blends having close values of the melt flow index (MFR) are also characterized by a similar melt viscosity in a wide range of shear rates, regardless of the viscosities of its constituent components. It has been found that PPSU blends with smaller MFR differences exhibit higher heat resistance and stability of mechanical properties, while blends with similar viscosity containing oligomers exhibit a broader molecular weight distribution (MWD) and have lower thermal and mechanical properties.

A universal rheological constitutive equation of magnetorheological fluids with a wide shear rate range

As an intelligent material, the magnetorheological fluid (MRF) has increased use in various fields, e.g., the semi-active suspension of vehicles. However, the efficient utilization and optimization of MRFs depend on a reliable constitutive relationship over a wide shear rate range, which existing models cannot fully and satisfactorily explain. This paper proposes a new non-Newtonian fluid constitutive equation that combines exponential and linear terms to describe the general characteristics of MRFs to tackle this problem. An effective parameter identification approach is realized by adopting model splitting to reduce the dimension of the optimized parameter space combined with a reasonable initial guess. A well-designed experiment for a commercial MRF is conducted to verify the proposed constitutive equation, indicating an improvement in accuracy of approximately 43 % compared with the Herschel-Bulkley model and its capability to reveal the rheological behaviors of MRFs in the wide shear rate range of 0.3–30000 s−1. The high compatibility between the proposed model and the Bingham model is supported by the high correlation coefficients of the dynamic yield stress and viscosity coefficient identified by this model and the existing data processing method based on the Bingham model, 0.9949 and 0.9160, respectively. Owing to its decoupled parameter structure, the extension to a multivariable framework has been implemented to consider the magnetorheological effect with good agreement. Finally, the application of magnetorheological device design has demonstrated the versatility and capacity of the proposed model for developing and utilizing a new generation of MRFs.

Enzymatically Pretreated High-Solid-Content Nanocellulose for a High-Throughput Coating Process

There is an ever-increasing interest toward utilizing nanocellulose as barrier coatings and films, and recent studies have underlined the efficiency of using innovative fibrillation processes such as twin-screw extrusion with an enzymatic pretreatment for producing nanocellulose suspensions with solid contents as high as 20 wt %, which can lead to faster coating speeds and reduced drying energy costs. The current work aims at understanding the factors that influence high-throughput processability of high-solid-content nanocellulose during roll-to-roll coating. The rheological properties of 12.5, 10, and 7.5 wt % suspensions were evaluated across a wide range of shear rates and geometries (rotational, pipe, and slot). The influence of dispersants [carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and sodium polyacrylate (NaPA)] on the rheology and coating quality was assessed. A Casson-power-cross model is proposed to explain the rheological behavior across a wide shear rate range and is used to predict useful parameters, viz., yield stress, transition shear rate, and power-law index at high shear rates. Finally, a 12.5 wt % nanocellulose suspension with CMC or NaPA dispersant was roll-to-roll-coated on paperboard using a slot-die applicator. CMC addition had a positive influence on the yield stress, thixotropy, and water release and, therefore, resulted in a better mineral oil and grease barrier of the coated samples compared to the rest.

Rheology and molecular interactions in polyacrylonitrile solutions: Role of a solvent

We examined the rheological properties of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solutions in seven solvents over a wide range of shear rates. These solutions were characterized using the Hansen solubility parameter. The viscosity of these dilute solutions was primarily determined by this parameter. However, above the crossover point (at c[η] > 0.7) not only viscosity but also nature of the solvents was found to be an important factor. At high polymer concentrations, certain solutions showed gelation tendency.This study aims to determine a correlation between the rheological properties of the solutions and the affinity of the solvent with PAN. These correlations are present for an intrinsic viscosity (or the Huggins constant), a second virial coefficient, and solubility parameter. However, in certain cases, experimental points do not correspond to general dependence. This is also observed for these solutions when presenting the data of viscoelastic measurements in G′–G″ coordinates: certain points deviate from the general dependence.A detailed infrared spectroscopy analysis has been used for examining these experimental results. It has been shown the water presence in the solvents and polymer solutions even than anhydrous solvents were used. Water presence tend to a solvent–water associate formation in the solutions. The solubility of PAN in these solvents and the gelation tendency depends on the polymer concentration, in addition to the structure and stability of the polymer–water associates. The experimental results obtained and the reported correlation made it possible to develop a subsequence of solvents used as per their affinity with PAN. The charactristics of dilute solutions were compared with the rheological properties of moderately concentrated solution.

Influence of Rheological Properties of Lithium Greases on Operating Behavior in Oscillating Rolling Bearings at a Small Swivel Angle

In this study, the behavior of greases during oscillating bearing operation with a small oscillation angle and high frequency was investigated. This mode of operation entails demands on the lubrication system that differ significantly from those for continuously rotating bearings. In order to determine the variables influencing the suitability of a lubricating grease for small angle oscillating operation, the grease samples were examined with particular regard to their rheological properties. The focus of this investigation was to find a relationship between the rheological parameters and the real behavior in the bearing. Therefore, rheological and physical parameters, which influence the long-term structural changes and lubrication conditions, were identified. For this purpose, the viscosity was measured over a wide shear-rate range. The storage and loss modulus, the work of deformation, and the adhesion force jump are also determined. Afterward, rotational transient flow measurements were performed. These allowed us to analyze the development of the shear stress over time, at a constant shear rate, and to examine the internal friction behavior by evaluating the energy density. Subsequently, grease-lubricated four-point bearings were used in component tests, while the frictional torque was measured. These bearings operated in oscillating motion. Moreover, the yield point of mechanically aged greases was measured and compared with that of fresh greases to examine the influence of the oscillating operation on the lubricant condition. Finally, correlations between grease composition, rheological measurements, and component tests were investigated. Thereby, parameters influencing the frictional behavior of greases in rolling bearings during oscillating operation at small swivel angles were identified.

Residual state rate effects of shear-zone soil regulating slow-to-fast transition of catastrophic landslides

Catastrophic landslides with basal shear zones usually involve a number of mechanisms that are poorly understood. One mechanism issue is the transition from slow sliding to fast movement, leading to catastrophic failure. We perform laboratory experiments on landslide shear-zone materials to investigate how rate effects influence the slow-to-fast transition. Two types of ring-shear tests are carried out, namely residual state shear tests involving a wide range of shear rates and residual state creep tests with the applied shear stress close to the residual strength. Our tests show that the shear-zone soil exhibits rate-weakening behaviour at low shear rates and rate-strengthening behaviour at high shear rates. These two opposite mechanisms are distinguished by a transition rate, which also regulates whether the creep motion falls into the viscous flow regime or returns to the slow sliding regime.

Synthesis and mechanism analysis of a new oil soluble viscosity reducer for flow improvement of Chenping heavy oil

Oil soluble viscosity reducers have gradually attracted the attention of petrochemical research due to their cleanliness and high efficiency. Considering the high viscosity and non-Newtonian fluid properties of Chenping heavy oil found in China, a series of new oil soluble viscosity reducers with different proportions and molecular weights were prepared by free radical polymerization using octadecyl acrylate, 2-allylphenol and N-methylolacrylamide as monomers. The viscosity reducer was applied to different types of heavy oil and found that it exhibited a better effect on heavy oils with high asphaltene content. The test of rheological behavior of heavy oil with additive was performed at wide range of shear rate (3–90 s−1) and temperature range (30–100 °C). The apparent viscosity reduction rate was up to 70.09%, which was better than the industrially relevant ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer under the same test condition. In addition, the effect of viscosity reducers on the components of heavy oil and the energy change of the system simulated by molecular dynamics simultaneously was investigated. The consistency of the simulated and experimental results show that the effect of viscosity reduction closely related to the crystallization process of wax and the viscosity reducer can reconstruct the surface structure of asphaltene and diminish the connection of benzene ring.

A New In Vitro Blood Hyperviscosity Model.

We developed a model of blood hyperviscosity avoiding extreme impact on the blood. The model shows reproducibility in rat blood under common storage conditions (4±1°C; stabilization with citrate-phosphate-glucose additive solution). Storage of rat blood under these condition leads to impairment of its rheological properties, which manifested in an increase in blood viscosity in a wide range of shear rates (3-300 sec-1). An increase in blood viscosity appeared the first day of storage and reached a maximum on the third day. During further 11-day storage, the blood viscosity did not change significantly. A hybrid macromolecular compound O-(3-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoyl)-(1→6)-α-D-glucan improved the hemorheological properties during storage. The most pronounced effect was observed on the third day of storage and manifested in a decrease in blood viscosity in the range of shear rates of 50-300 sec-1. Thus, storage of rat blood with citrate-phosphate-glucose additive solution for 3 days at 4±1°C reproduces the phenomenon of blood hyperviscosity; this model can be used to screen agents with hemorheological activity.

Incorporating Rheological Nonlinearity into Fractional Calculus Descriptions of Fractal Matter and Multi-Scale Complex Fluids

In this paper, we use ideas from fractional calculus to study the rheological response of soft materials under steady-shearing flow conditions. The linear viscoelastic properties of many multi-scale complex fluids exhibit a power-law behavior that spans over many orders of magnitude in time or frequency, and we can accurately describe this linear viscoelastic rheology using fractional constitutive models. By measuring the non-linear response during large step strain deformations, we also demonstrate that this class of soft materials often follows a time-strain separability principle, which enables us to characterize their nonlinear response through an experimentally determined damping function. To model the nonlinear response of these materials, we incorporate the damping function with the integral formulation of a fractional viscoelastic constitutive model and develop an analytical framework that enables the calculation of material properties such as the rate-dependent shear viscosity measured in steady-state shearing flows. We focus on a general subclass of fractional constitutive equations, known as the Fractional Maxwell Model, and consider several different analytical forms for the damping function. Through analytical and computational evaluations of the shear viscosity, we show that for sufficiently strong damping functions, for example, an exponential decay of fluid memory with strain, the observed shear-thinning behavior follows a power-law response with exponents that are set by the power-law indices of the linear fractional model. For weak damping functions, however, the power-law index of the high shear rate viscosity is set by the terminal behavior of the damping function itself at large strains. In the limit of a very weak damping function, the theoretical formulation predicts an unbounded growth of the shear stress with time and a continuously growing transient viscosity function that does not converge to a meaningful steady-state value. By determining the leading terms in our analytical solution for the viscosity at both low and high shear rates, we construct an approximate analytic expression for the rate-dependent viscosity. An error analysis shows that, for each of the damping functions considered, this closed-form expression is accurate over a wide range of shear rates.

Computational modeling of biomechanics and biorheology of heated red blood cells

Because of their compromised deformability, heat denatured erythrocytes have been used as labeled probes to visualize spleen tissue or to assess the ability of the spleen to retain stiff red blood cells (RBCs) for over three decades, e.g., see Looareesuwan et al. N. Engl. J. Med. (1987). Despite their good accessibility, it is still an open question how heated RBCs compare to certain diseased RBCs in terms of their biomechanical and biorheological responses, which may undermine their effective usage and even lead to misleading experimental observations. To help answering this question, we perform a systematic computational study of the hemorheological properties of heated RBCs with several physiologically relevant static and hemodynamic settings, including optical-tweezers test, relaxation of prestretched RBCs, RBC traversal through a capillary-like channel and a spleen-like slit, and a viscometric rheology test. We show that our in silico RBC models agree well with existing experiments. Moreover, under static tests, heated RBCs exhibit deformability deterioration comparable to certain disease-impaired RBCs such as those in malaria. For RBC traversal under confinement (through microchannel or slit), heated RBCs show prolonged transit time or retention depending on the level of confinement and heating procedure, suggesting that carefully heat-treated RBCs may be useful for studying splenic- or vaso-occlusion in vascular pathologies. For the rheology test, we expand the existing bulk viscosity data of heated RBCs to a wider range of shear rates (1–1000 s−1) to represent most pathophysiological conditions in macro- or microcirculation. Although heated RBC suspension shows elevated viscosity comparable to certain diseased RBC suspensions under relatively high shear rates (100–1000 s−1), they underestimate the elevated viscosity (e.g., in sickle cell anemia) at low shear rates (<10 s−1). Our work provides mechanistic rationale for selective usage of heated RBC as a potentially useful model for studying the abnormal traversal dynamics and hemorheology in certain blood disorders.

Application of thin gap rheometry for high shear rate viscosity measurement in monoclonal antibody formulations

The key highlight of this work was to develop a thin gap methodology on a mechanical rheometer for characterizing high concentration monoclonal antibody formulations. This work was done from applied formulation perspective to provide guidance on an additional measurement protocol with the objective of further reducing sample volume requirement for biopharmaceutical formulation rheology measurements and provide viscosity data over a wide shear rate range. This is especially relevant for early stage discovery where there are sample volume limitations. This developed methodology in addition to an understanding of the diffusion interaction parameter was then in turn utilized to elucidate the effect of surfactants and excipients on the high shear rate viscosity of high concentration monoclonal antibodies. In this study, gap dependent changes in the fundamental rheological behavior were observed. At higher gaps, an initial shear thinning behavior was observed at lower shear rates and this trend was found to disappear at thin gaps. This shear thinning which is due to air water interface disappears as the gap size decreases. At high shear rates, there is a convergence of all the viscosity data for all the gaps. This also converges with the mVROC data. However, at smallest gaps studied (50 µm) shear thickening is observed at intermediate shear rates. This maybe attributable to the protein molecules undergoing flow induced aggregation due to increased confinement thereby causing shear thickening and an increase in viscosity. However, this trend eventually diminishes at higher shear rates which could be attributed to flow induced alignment of protein aggregates thereby causing a decrease in viscosity. Addition of either excipients (like Arginine- HCl, NaCl) or surfactants (like polysorbate80) seem to have a drastic impact on shear thickening caused potentially by flow induced aggregation. Addition of excipients also resulted in approximately 33–50% decrease in the viscosity of monoclonal antibody (mAb) solution and the diffusion interaction parameter kD was seen to be indicative of the high shear rate viscosity behavior of these formulations.