Malvern Instruments has announced an exclusive global distribution agreement with RheoSense Inc. to promote, market, sell and support the VROC product range into industrial applications. The agreement enables Malvern to add the m-VROCi, microfluidic viscometer/rheometer on a chip to its existing portfolio of rotational and capillary rheometers.
The m-VROCi addresses a need to measure low-viscosity fluids under process relevant conditions. It’s suitable for the characterization and enhancement of inkjet inks, coatings, rechargeable batteries, lubricants, chemical and food additives and drink formulations.
The m-VROCi is a hybrid microfluidic and MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical-system) sensor-based instrument. It determines viscosity by controlling sample volume flow rate and measuring changes in pressure as the sample passes along a microfluidic scale flow channel with embedded MEMS pressure sensors. Control software allows the production of flow-curves, plots of viscosity as a function of shear rate, for sensitive and detailed rheological analysis.
A dynamic shear rate range of 1s-1 to >106s-1 enables the fast and accurate measurement of low-viscosity fluids under the high shear rate conditions that prevail in many processes but cannot be accessed using traditional viscometry/rheometry instrumentation, according to Malvern.
For more information, visit www.malvern.com.
