Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, Vol.52, No.2, 217-232, 1994
A NEW TORSIONAL ROD INSTRUMENT FOR HIGH-FREQUENCY DYNAMIC VISCOELASTIC MEASUREMENTS
In studies of the viscoelastic properties of biopolymer solutions the total amount of polymer needed is often a crucial limiting factor. We here report on a new high-Q quartz torsional rod design that reduces the required sample volume to about 1 ml, while maintaining the instrument sensitivity. This corresponds to a reduction in the amount of polymer needed by more than a factor of ten compared to other existing instruments for measurements of high frequency dynamic viscoelasticity. The frequency range of this new instrument is 8-150 kHz (about eight different frequencies for each of several resonators).