Paper Number
PO82 My Program
Session
Poster Session
Title
On making rheological measurements using a minimum amount of sample
Presentation Date and Time
October 22, 2025 (Wednesday) 6:30
Track / Room
Poster Session / Sweeney Ballroom E+F
Authors
- Waiba, Rhythm (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities)
- Shukla, Asheesh (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities)
- Macosko, Christopher W. (University of Minnesota, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science)
Author and Affiliation Lines
Rhythm Waiba, Asheesh Shukla and Christopher W. Macosko
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
Speaker / Presenter
Shukla, Asheesh
Keywords
experimental methods; advanced manufacturing; applied rheology; future of rheology; methods; production; rheometry; sustainability; techniques
Text of Abstract
Rheology is a very useful tool to characterize complex materials like polymers, soft gels, dispersions etc. However, it remains a batch process where a user must manually load the sample in the rheometer and run the experiments. Our aim is to get to a state where performing rheology experiments can be automated. In order to automate, one step is to find out the minimum amount of sample that is needed to get “good” data. In this work, we attempt to determine the minimum quantity of samples that can give reproducible and accurate results. We tested different materials on two different rheometers and showed that one can get good data at gaps as low as 0.02 mm. We also looked at various errors, like alignment at low gaps and edge effects, that can negatively impact the results.