• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.81-87
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• 2021

Extensional flow of viscoelastic fluids is widely utilized in various industrial processes such as electrospinning, 3D printing and plastic injection molding. Extensional rheological properties, such as apparent viscosity and relaxation time, play an important role in the design and evaluation of the viscoelastic fluid-involved processes. In this work, we propose a lab-built capillary breakup extensional rheometer (CaBER) based on flow image processing to investigate the capillary breakup of polyethylene oxide (PEO) solution and its extensional rheological properties. We found that the apparent extensional viscosity and extensional relaxation time of the PEO solution are independent of the strike time. The proposed CaBER is expected to be applied to characterization of the extensional rheological properties of viscoelastic fluids at low cost with high precision.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.110-118
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• 2023

Characterizing the extensional rheological properties of non-Newtonian fluids is crucial in many industrial processes, such as inkjet printing, injection molding, and fiber engineering. However, educational institutions and research laboratories with budget constraints have limited access to an expensive commercial extensional rheometer. In this study, we developed a custom-made extensional rheometer using a CO₂ laser cutting machine and 3D printer. Furthermore, we utilized a smartphone with a low-cost microscopic lens for achieving a high spatial resolution of images. The aqueous polyethylene-oxide (PEO) solutions and a Boger fluid were prepared to characterize their extensional properties. A transition from a visco-capillary to an elasto-capillary regime was observed clearly through the developed rheometer. The extensional relaxation time and viscosity of the aqueous PEO solutions with a zero-shear viscosity of over 300 mPa·s could be quantified in the elasto-capillary regime. The extensional properties of the solutions with relatively small zero shear viscosity could be calculated using a smartphone's slow-motion feature with increasing temporal resolution of the images.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.135-139
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• 2002

Blends of the linear bisphenol-A polycarbonate (L-PC) and randomly branched bisphenol-A polycarbonate (Br-PC), prepared by co-rotating twin screw extrusion, were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), sag resistance time tester, extensional rheometry, and advanced rheometric expansion system (ARES). From the DSC results, the glass transition temperature (T$_{g}$) of the L-PC/Br-PC blend was increased with the increase of Br-PC in the blend, and the blend showed a single T$_{g}$, which suggests a miscible blend. The sag resistance time of the L-PC/Br-PC blend was increased with the increase of Br-PC in the blends. From the results of rheological measurements of the L-PC/Br-PC blends, the extensional viscosity and the complex viscosity of the blends were found to increase with the increase of Br-PC in the blends. The increase of extensional viscosity and complex viscosity was related with the increase of sag resistance time with the Br-PC in the L-PC/Br-PC blends.nds.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.305-311
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• 1999

The shear behavior of polymers obtained by means of devices such as capillary and cone-and-plate rheo-meters is commonly used to assess their processing performance and as a characterization tool. However, the number of instances when two polymers have the same shear properties but perform differently during certain types of processing operations (e.g. film blowing and sheet extrusion) indicate that shear properties alone may not be sufficient to characterize polymeric fluids. We begin by defining the kinematics of shear-free or extensional flow and the associated material functions. The extensional and shear behavior of three different types of polyethylene (PE) are then compared to illustrate the points that one cannot ascertain the extensional properties of polymer melts from their shear properties and, furthermore, there may not be a simple relation between properties obtained from one type of extensional flow and those of another type. The kinematics of most processing flows are extensional rather than shear in nature, and , hence, the performance of polymers during processes such as fiber spinning, film casting, film blowing, thermoforming, blow molding, and even extrusion is more readily accounted for through extensional viscosity measurements. Methods for carrying out extensional flow measurements are then reviewed including approximate methods. To illustrate the sensitivity of extensional viscosity measurements to subtle changes in the molecular architecture of PEs, results are presented for samples with a narrow molecular weight distribution but with varying numbers of long chain branches. Finally, constitutive equations which allow one to separate shear and extensional flow behavior are discussed as any attempts to simulate the subtle processing differences between two polymers will require constitutive equations of this nature.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2001

The development of filament stretching extensional rheometers over the past decade has enabled the systematic measurement of the transient extensional stress growth in dilute and semi-dilute polymer solutions. The strain-hardening in the extensional viscosity of dilute solutions overwhelms the perturbative effects of capillarity, inertia & gravity and the kinematics of the extensional deformation become increasingly homogeneous at large strains. This permits the development of a robust open-loop control algorithm for rapidly realizing a deformation with constant stretch history that is desired for extensional rheometry. For entangled fluids such as concentrated solutions and melts the situation is less well defined since the material functions are governed by the molecular weight between entanglements, and the fluids therefore show much less pronounced strain-hardening in transient elongation. We use experiments with semi-dilute/entangled and concentrated/entangled monodisperse polystyrene solutions coupled with time-dependent numerical computations using nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive equations such as the Giesekus model in order to show that an open-loop control strategy is still viable for such fluids. Multiple iterations using a successive substitution may be necessary, however, in order to obtain the true transient extensional viscosity material function. At large strains and high extension rates the extension of fluid filaments in both dilute and concentrated polymer solutions is limited by the onset of purely elastic instabilities which result in necking or peeling of the elongating column. The mode of instability is demonstrated to be a sensitive function of the magnitude of the strain-hardening in the fluid sample. In entangled solutions of linear polymers the observed transition from necking instability to peeling instability observed at high strain rates (of order of the reciprocal of the Rouse time for the fluid) is directly connected to the cross-over from a reptative mechanism of tube orientation to one of chain extension.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 1997

In recent years, compression molding of fiber-reinforced thermoplastics has been increased in commercial aspects. During a compression molding process of composites, the flow analysis must be developed in order to accurately predict the finished part properties as a function of the molding process parameters. In this paper, a new model is presented which can be used to predict the flow under consideration of the slip of mold-composites and extensional & shear viscosity ratio M and slip parameter$\alpha$ on the mold filling parameters are discussed.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.109-116
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• 2008

The effect of intermolecular aggregation induced by hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions on shear and elongational flow properties of aqueous acrylic thickener solutions is discussed. Complex shear modulus is determined at frequencies up to $10^4$ rad/s employing oscillatory squeeze flow. Extensional flow behavior is characterized using Capillary Break-up Extensional Rheometry. Aqueous solutions of poly(acrylic acid)(PAA)/poly(vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinylimidazole) (PVP-VI) mixtures exhibit unusual rheological properties described here for the first time. Zero-shear viscosity of the mixtures increases with decreasing pH and can exceed that of the pure polymers in solution by more than two orders of magnitude. This is attributed to the formation of complexes induced by electrostatic interactions in the pH range, where both polymers are oppositely charged. PAA/PVP-VI mixtures are compared to the commercial thickener Sterocoll FD (BASF SE), which is a statistical co-polymer including (meth) acrylic acid and ethylacrylate (EA) forming aggregates in solution due to "sticky" contacts among hydrophobic EA-sequences. PAA/PVP-VI complexes are less compact and more deformable than the hydrophobic Sterocoll FD aggregates. Solutions of PAA/PVP-VI exhibit a higher zero-shear viscosity even at lower molecular weight of the aggregates, but are strongly shear-thinning in contrast to the weakly shear-thinning solutions of Sterocoll FD. The higher ratio of characteristic relaxation times in shear and elongation determined for PAA/PVP-VI compared to Sterocoll FD solutions reflects, that the charge-induced complexes provide a much stronger resistance to extensional flow than the aggregates formed by hydrophobic interactions. This is most likely due to a break-up of the latter in extensional flow, while there is no evidence for a break-up of complexes for PAA/PVP-VI mixtures. These flexible aggregates are more suitable for the stabilization of thin filaments in extensional flows.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.115-123
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• 2001

In recent years, compression molding of long fiber-reinforced thermoplastics has been increased in commercial aspects. In the process of compression molding of composites, the flow analysis must be developed in order to accurately predict the finished part properties as a function of the molding process parameters. In this model FRTP is assumed to be nonisothermal fluid, which has different viscosities in extensional and in shear. For verification of the model, the formation of a knit line in the L-shaped parts is compared with that of experiments results. In this paper we will discuss the effects of extensional & shear viscosity ratio and slip parameter $\alpha$ on the other modle fill-ing parameters.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2005

In this work we show the results of our most recent Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of turbulent viscoelastic channel flow using spectral spatial approximations and a stabilizing artificial diffusion in the viscoelastic constitutive model. The Finite-Elasticity Non-Linear Elastic Dumbbell model with the Peterlin approximation (FENE-P) is used to represent the effect of polymer molecules in solution, The corresponding rheological parameters are chosen so that to get closer to the conditions corresponding to maximum drag reduction: A high extensibility parameter (60) and a moderate solvent viscosity ratio (0.8) are used with two different friction Weissenberg numbers (50 and 100). We then first find that the corresponding achieved drag reduction, in the range of friction Reynolds numbers used in this work (180-590), is insensitive to the Reynolds number (in accordance to previous work). The obtained drag reduction is at the level of $49\%\;and\;63\%$, for the friction Weissenberg numbers 50 and 100, respectively. The largest value is substantially higher than any of our previous simulations, performed at more moderate levels of viscoelasticity (i.e. higher viscosity ratio and smaller extensibility parameter values). Therefore, the maximum extensional viscosity exhibited by the modeled system and the friction Weissenberg number can still be considered as the dominant factors determining the levels of drag reduction. These can reach high values, even for of dilute polymer solution (the system modeled by the FENE-P model), provided the flow viscoelasticity is high, corresponding to a high polymer molecular weight (which translates to a high extensibility parameter) and a high friction Weissenberg number. Based on that and the changes observed in the turbulent structure and in the most prevalent statistics, as presented in this work, we can still rationalize for an increasing extensional resistance-based drag reduction mechanism as the most prevalent mechanism for drag reduction, the same one evidenced in our previous work: As the polymer elasticity increases, so does the resistance offered to extensional deformation. That, in turn, changes the structure of the most energy-containing turbulent eddies (they become wider, more well correlated, and weaker in intensity) so that they become less efficient in transferring momentum, thus leading to drag reduction. Such a continuum, rheology-based, mechanism has first been proposed in the early 70s independently by Metzner and Lamley and is to be contrasted against any molecularly based explanations.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.225-233
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• 2009

In various attempts to relate the behaviour of highly-elastic liquids in complex flows to their rheometrical behaviour, obvious candidates for study have been the variation of shear viscosity with shear rate, the two normal stress differences $N_1$ and $N_2$, especially $N_1$, and the extensional viscosity $\eta_E$. In this paper, we shall be mainly interested in 'constant-viscosity' Boger fluids, and, accordingly, we shall limit attention to $N_1$ and $\eta_E$. We shall concentrate on two important flows - axisymmetric contraction flow and "splashing" (particularly that which arises when a liquid drop falls onto the tree surface of the same liquid). Modern numerical techniques are employed to provide the theoretical predictions. It is shown that the two obvious manifestations of viscoelastic rheometrical behaviour can sometimes be opposing influences in determining flow characteristics. Specifically, in an axisymmetric contraction flow, high $\eta_E$ can retard the flow, whereas high $N_1$ can have the opposite effect. In the splashing experiment, high $\eta_E$ can certainly reduce the height of the so-called Worthington jet, thus confirming some early suggestions, but, again, other rheometrical influences can also have a role to play and the overall picture may not be as clear as it was once envisaged.