Broad Range Nano-liter Viscometer

 KSU.325

Abstract: Classical rheological equipments working by capillary, rotational and falling/rolling ball techniques need amounts of material on the order of a mL.  Micro-fabrication techniques that create micro-fluidic chan nels may use material volumes down to about twenty nL.  However, these methods are typically valid for Newtonian flow regimes and low viscosities, which in general limit their usage as a general rheological tool.  We have built a simple device without the need of microchannel technique that would require use of typically 10 nL material, but would work in a wide viscoelastic regime and allow optical observations and temperature regulation.

Applications:

Rheological studies of commercially-not-available and expensive complex fluid materials –

Novel liquid crystals

• Bent-core materials
• Elastomers
• Liquid crystals with nano-particles, etc.

Soft matters of biological relevancies

• DNA solutions, etc.

Advantages:

Simple and relatively cheap

Allows study of complex materials together with their optical properties including

• Isotropic
• Anisotropic
• Homogeneous
• Heterogeneous

Inventors:  Dr. Antal Jakli (faculty) and Dr. Christopher Bailey

Licensing Contact

Suguna Rachakonda

Associate Director, Technology Commercialization

Office: 330-672-3553  Fax: 330-672-7991

Email: srachako@kent.edu