Our goal is to develop and promote the adoption of small-volume
rheological methods for complex fluids including bio-fluids,
suspensions and polymers, where small volume capability is
advantageous because it is the natural length scale, the sample
size availability is small, or the technique is more sensitive.
One way to develop small-volume rheology methods that we have
used successfully is to start with existing concepts and
geometries of rheometry and to then "think small." This approach
ensures that we are measuring fundamental materials properties
rather than quantities that are experiment and geometry
specific. Examples include: Another way is to start with small
scale phenomenology (such as flow in a droplet) and then develop
a theory that connects to rheological parameters: Additional
Technical Details: We have developed a multi-sample micro-
capillary rheometer,M2R,which is capable of measurements over a
broad range of temperatures, viscosities and shear rates. The
instrument is inherently simple as t