After 5 years of optimization, the research team led by Liu Gengxin, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Low-dimension Materials, Donghua University, has built a micronewton shear rheometer named mgRheo. It performs SAOS that requires merely 2 mg of the sample. The research result was published in the Journal of Rheology entitled Micronewton shear rheometer performing SAOS using 2 mg of sample.
The rheometer tests sample energy storage and loss moduli in the range of 10 Pa to 10 MPa and the temperature range of 250 to -150 degrees Celsius, as shown in the figure below. Its measurement capability is higher than the previous ones described in the literature.
The rheometer can analyze polymer materials at different times and from various deformation scales, providing fundamental theoretical tools and experimental measures for studying the properties of new materials. The development of the mgRheo makes it possible to check the rheology and dynamics of new materials without being limited by the sample volume. The device has provided reliable rheometric measurements to several domestic groups, especially obtaining viscoelasticity data of polymeric materials that are difficult to get in large quantities.
Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1122/8.0000494
