H84ARM-E1

The University of Nottingham

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

A LEVEL 4 MODULE, AUTUMN SEMESTER 2016-2017

ADVANCED RHEOLOGY AND MATERIALS

Time allowed: TWO Hours

Candidates may complete the front cover of their answer book and sign their desk card but
must NOT write anything else until the start of the examination period is announced

Answer ALL questions

Only silent, self contained calculators with a Single-Line Display or Dual-Line Display are
permitted in this examination.

Dictionaries are not allowed with one exception. Those whose first language is not English
may use a standard translation dictionary to translate between that language and English
provided that neither language is the subject of this examination. Subject specific translation
dictionaries are not permitted.

No electronic devices capable of storing and retrieving text, including electronic dictionaries,
may be used.

DO NOT turn examination paper over until instructed to do so

In this examination candidates are required to answer ALL questions.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL: Formula Sheet

Graph paper

INFORMATION FOR INVIGILATORS:

Question papers should be collected in at the end of the exam – do not allow candidates to
take copies from the exam room.

Turn over
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SECTION A

Answer ALL six questions in this section

1. Two fluids, A and B, have viscosities of 100 Pa s at a shear rate of 10 s-1. Using
the information below sketch the shear stress vs shear rate on log axes for both
fluids on a single graph.

Fluid A is a Newtonian fluid

Fluid B is a power-law fluid with a m = 2
[5]

2. For a Herschel-Bulkley fluid with a yield stress  y = 100 Pa, a viscosity of 11 Pa

s at a shear rate of 100 s-1, and a viscosity of 1.01 Pa s at a shear rate of
10000 s-1, identify the model parameters m and n.
[5]

3. The viscosity of two fluids is measured during increasing and decreasing shear
rate. Produce and label sketches of viscosity as a function of shear rate for the
following fluids.

(a) A shear thickening fluid;

(b) A shear thinning fluid. [5]

4. With the aid of a diagram, explain the procedure for estimating a visco-elastic
fluid’s relaxation time from oscillatory rheometric frequency sweeps.
[5]

5. An industrial application of rheology is product quality control. Discuss which

rheometric techniques could be used for quality control by a polymer
manufacturer.
[5]

6. Describe uniaxial and biaxial extension and give an industrial example of each
one.
[5]

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SECTION B

Answer ALL questions in this section

7. (a) A rheologist uses a cone and plate rotational rheometer with cone angle 𝜃
to measure the properties of an unknown fluid. By using the appropriate
equations, show that the shear rate is constant everywhere in the fluid for
this fluid geometry.
[6]

(b) Describe why cone and plate rheometers are often preferred to parallel
plate rheometers.
[2]

(c) Describe why a rotational shear rheometer and a capillary rheometer may
both be used to make measurements on the same fluid sample.
[2]

8. (a) For a viscoelastic material what are the differences between the Kelvin
model and the Maxwell model?
[4]

(b) The viscoelastic response of a fluid in shear is modelled using a Kelvin

model with spring stiffness 2 MPa and dashpot viscosity 100 MPa s. If the
fluid is subjected to creep with a shear stress of 600 KPa, find the shear
strain in the fluid after 1 s, 100 s and 10000 s.
[6]

9. (a) A fluid is subjected to a state of plane stress. The stress tensor can be
written as:
8 4
𝜎= [ ] MPa
4 2

Calculate the eigenvalues and corresponding normalised eigenvectors for

this stress tensor.
[8]

(b) How can you be sure that a fluid represented by a stress tensor is not
experiencing a volume change?
[2]

Turn Over
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SECTION C

Answer ALL questions in this section

10. (a) Describe both LAOS and SAOS rheometry. Your description should clearly
state the difference in application of the two techniques.
[4]

(b) A new type of dog chew is extruded through a circular die of radius 4 mm
at a rate of 110 mm3/s. The relaxation time at this temperature has been
estimated from oscillatory shear measurements as 2.5 s. By assuming an
appropriate Deborah number, determine a minimum length of die to
minimise the amount of die swell.
[6]

(c) The relaxation time of this dog chew was calculated to be 2 s at reference
temperature 210 ℃. This polymer obeys TTS and has WLF parameters of
C1 = 5 C2 = 180 ℃ . Determine the relaxation times for temperatures of
200 ℃ and 220 ℃.
[8]

(d) How could you determine the viscoelastic limit of this material?
[2]

11. (a) A manufacturer is developing a new cement like construction material.

Preliminary testing have shown it to behave as a non-Newtonian fluid
which they believe can be modelled as a power law fluid with the model
parameters given in Table Q11a. In the manufacturing facility the fluid in
pumped through a length of pipe 2 meters in length with a pressure drop
of 15 KPa. Without considering entry and exit effects, what should the
internal radius of this pipe be to ensure a flow rate of 5 m3/s.
[4]

Table Q11a

Consistency index m (Pa sn) 30

Exponent n 0.2

Continued on next page

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(b) The manufacturer makes a second material and wishes to know its
rheological properties so perform some measurements using a capillary
rheometer. A circular die of varying length L and radius R was used; the
pressure drop p measured across the capillary was set and the mass m
extruded through the capillary in 10 minutes were measured. Use the data
in Table Q11b to calculate the wall slip velocity. The density of the material
was measured and found to be: 1.36 g mL-1.
[6]

Table Q11b

R L pmeas m
(m) (m) (Pa) (kg / 10
mins)
0.0005 0.050 830000 0.0372
0.001 0.050 430000 0.277
0.002 0.050 230000 2.13
0.004 0.050 130000 16.7

(c) A correction to the measured pressure is necessary to account for pressure

losses occurring on entry and exit to the capillary. Use the data to
establish the magnitude of the pressure losses due to entry and exit in the
experiments.
[6]

(d) Determine the viscosity of this material for the values above after the two
corrections have been applied.
[4]

END
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2016/17 Advanced Rheology and Materials – Formula Sheet H84ARM

Rheological constitutive equations

In the equations below,  is the shear stress,  is the shear strain rate, and  is the apparent viscosity.

Newtonian

  
where  is the Newtonian viscosity.

Power-law

  m n
where m is the consistency index and n is the exponent.

Carreau

p
  0 1    
2
 
where 0 is the zero shear viscosity, and  and p are parameters.

Carreau-Yasuda

n 1
   
 1      a
a
0    
where 0 is the zero shear viscosity,  is the infinite shear rate viscosity, and  , n and a
are parameters.

Bingham plastic

   y  0
where  y is the yield stress and 0 is the viscosity at large shear rates.

Herschel-Bulkley

   y  m n
where  y is the yield stress, m is the consistency index and n is the exponent.
Casson

   y  C
where  y is the yield stress and C is the Casson viscosity at large shear rates.

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Rheometry

Couette-cell rheometer (cup-and-bob)


Shear rate  
(1   )
T
Shear stress 
2 R 2 L 2

where  is the angular velocity of the cup, R is the cup radius,  R is the bob radius, L
is the length and T is the torque.

Cone-and-plate rheometer


Shear rate  

3T
Shear stress 
2 R3

where  is the angular velocity of the cone, R is the plate radius,  is the cone angle,
and T is the torque.

Parallel plate rheometer

r
Shear rate  
H

Shear stress at the rim  

 
2T  3 d ln T / 2 R

3
 
 R3  4 d ln  R 
 

where r is the radius,  is the angular velocity of the cone, R is the plate radius at the
rim, H is the gap, T is the torque, and  R is the shear rate at the rim.

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2016/17 Advanced Rheology and Materials – Formula Sheet H84ARM

Pouseille flow in uniform circular channel

Governing equations:

r P
Shear stress  
2 L
1/ n
r P  1 P 
Shear rate (Newtonian)    ; Shear rate (Power-law)      r1/ n
2 L  2m L 

where P is the pressure drop across length L , r is the radial distance from the axis, 
is the Newtonian viscosity, m is the consistency index and n is the exponent.

Flow rates and wall shear rates:

Newtonian fluids

 R 4 P 4Q
Flow rate Q  ; Wall shear rate  w  
8 L  R3
Power law fluids

n 3 1  1 P 
1/ n
 3n  1 4Q
Flow rate Q  R n  ; Wall shear rate  w  
 3n  1  2m L  4n  R3

where P is the pressure drop across length L , R is the channel radius,  is the
Newtonian viscosity, m is the consistency index and n is the exponent.

Corrections for capillary rheometers

Slip correction:

4 4
 a,slip-corrected  vavg  vslip
R R
where vavg  Q /  R 2 and vslip is the slip velocity.

Bagley correction:

Pcapillary  Pmeasured  PL/ R0

where PL / R0 is the extrapolated pressure drop at L / R  0 .

Rabinowitsch correction:

1  d ln  a 
w  a  3  
 4  d ln  w  

where  a  4Q /  R3 .

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Viscoelasticity
Storage modulus, loss modulus and loss tangent

G ' , the storage modulus, is the amplitude of the portion of the stress wave  0 cos( ) that
is in phase with the strain wave, divided by the amplitude of the strain wave  0 – it tells
us about the size of the elastic response.
 cos( ) 
G'   0 
 0 
G '' , the loss modulus, is the amplitude of the portion of the stress wave  0 sin( ) that is
out of phase with the strain wave, divided by the amplitude of the strain wave  0 – it tells
us about the size of the viscous response.
 sin( ) 
G ''   0 
 0 
tan  , the loss tangent, refers to the angle  by which the output stress wave lags behind
the input strain wave.

Time-temperature superposition

WLF equation:
C1 T  T0 
log10 aT 
C2  T  T0 

where aT is the shift factor at temperature T , C1 and C2 are constants, and T0 is the
reference temperature.

Maxwell Model

Governing equation:
 
 
E 

where the relaxation time  is given by    / E

Creep response:
 0  0t
 t   
E 
Kelvin model
Governing equation:
  E  

where the retardation time   is given by     / E .

Creep response solution:
0  t 
 t   1  exp    
E   ' 
Creep Compliance:
1 t 
 t    0 1  exp    
E   ' 

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Tensorial representation

Deformation gradient, velocity gradient and rate of deformation tensors

F , the deformation gradient tensor, is a second order tensor that relates the deformed
configuration x to the undeformed configuration X . The condition for isochoric
 
deformation is det F  1 .
x
F
X
L , the velocity gradient tensor, is a second order tensor related to F , the time derivative,
and F 1 , the inverse of the deformation gradient tensor.
L  F F 1
D , the rate of deformation tensor, is obtained from the symmetric part of L , the velocity

 
gradient tensor. The condition for isochoric deformation is trace D  0 .

  
D  symm L  12 L  LT 
Rotation of tensors

If new coordinate axes xˆ ' are related to original coordinate axes x̂ by a rotation R
xˆ '  Rxˆ
then second order tensors A and A ' in the original and new coordinate axes respectively
are related by
A '  RT AR
Properties of stress tensors

It is usual to separate the stress tensor σ into a hydrostatic pressure p and a deviatoric
stress tensor σ
σ   pI  σ
where I is the identity tensor. The eigenvectors of a stress tensor define the directions of
principal stress, and the eigenvalues are the principal stresses. When a stress tensor is
aligned to its principal directions, the shear stresses are equal to 0. The shear stress is
always a maximum when aligned at 45o to the directions of principal stress.

Generalised Newtonian fluid

σ  2    D
where σ is the stress tensor and    is a scalar function of shear rate.

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