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Determination of the flow curve of complex fluids using the Rabinowitsch–Mooney equation in sensorless microrheometer

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Abstract

In this work, we present a way to make rheological measurements on a microfluidic chip. The originality of our approach relies on the determination of the flow curve of a fluid using the Rabinowitsch–Mooney equation. For this purpose, we use a parallel flow between a reference fluid and a studied fluid to measure the pressure drop inside the channel. Using a Newtonian fluid of known viscosity, knowing the flow rates of the two liquids and measuring the geometrical features of the two-phase flow allows determining the pressure drop in the channel. The Rabinowitsch–Mooney equation is used to calculate the local shear rate and shear stress at the wall for the studied sample. We validate our method for several complex fluids.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Aquitaine Région.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solvay Laboratoire du Futur, Unité mixte Solvay-CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, 178 Avenue du Docteur Schweitzer, 33608, Pessac, France

    Pierre Guillot & Annie Colin

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  1. Pierre Guillot
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  2. Annie Colin
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Correspondence to Annie Colin.

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Guillot, P., Colin, A. Determination of the flow curve of complex fluids using the Rabinowitsch–Mooney equation in sensorless microrheometer. Microfluid Nanofluid 17, 605–611 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-013-1329-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-013-1329-z

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