RHEOMETER

Abstract: A rheometer for studying the elastic properties of a material has two coaxial shafts (23, 29), the mutually adjacent ends of which are provided each with one measuring probe (25, 32) adapted to engage with a sample (P) of the material. One shaft is rotatable and the other is stationary, and at least on the latter magnetoelastic ribbons are fixed whose permeability is changed upon transmission of a rotary force from said rotary shaft to said stationary shaft via the sample between said measuring probes (25, 32). The change in permeability can be read by means of primary and secondary coils surrounding said shaft in a contactless manner and connected to a voltage source and a measuring equipment, respectively. To drive the rotary shaft, use is made of an electric motor (21), but it is also possible to replace the entire shaft by a magnetoelastic tape or rod surrounded by a coil connectible to a voltage and current source. This arrangement can be used also as a stationary shaft for checking the torque thereof.

Description: RHEOMETER The present invention relates to a rheometer comprising a frame having at least one measuring probe which is rotatable by means of a driving device and movable "into engagement with a sample whose viscoelastic properties 'are to be studied, and a measuring equipment for measuring energy transmitted from said measuring probe to said sample. It has been known for a number of years to study the viscoelastic properties of fluidal materials by means of a rheometer of the above-mentioned construction. For such studies, the rotatable shaft and the measuring probe associated therewith are driven in the desired manner, for example at a constant or oscillating angular velocity, and via the sample disposed between the measuring probes, the movement of the rotatable shaft and the measuring probe is converted into a torque of the stationary shaft to which torque-indicating means, such as' strain gages connected to a measuring equipment, are fixed. Strain " gages and similar known measuring devices which are wired to the measuring equipment, are relatively insensitive, and furthermore the wires may adversely affect the measuring result. A material has recently been developed whose magnetoelastic properties are extremely interesting and which is characterised in that already a minute force applied to a ribbon of this material will cause a considerable change in the permeability of the material. The material is described in a number of papers and is commercially available in ribbon form under the trade name METGLASS 2605SC. Although other forms of the material may be utilised, the ribbon form is preferred, and for this reason the expression "magnetoelastic ribbon" is used below and in the appended claims for a ribbon having a high magnetoelastic coupling factor. The basis of this invention is the wish for a new rheometer which has a far higher sensitivity or capability of measuring more accurately than before the viscoelas¬ tic properties of fluids, and with which there is no risk that the measuring devices or the connections thereof will adversely affect the measuring result. By utilising magnetoelastic materials, this wisή can be complied with by means of a simple and reliable con¬ struction which, according to one aspect of the invention, is characterised in that the measuring probe has a portion coaxial with the axis of rotation and provided with at least one peripheral set of magnetoelastic ribbons, said portion being surrounded in contactless manner by at least one coil arrangement which comprises a primary coil con¬ nectible to a voltage source and a secondary coil connec¬ ted to a measuring equipment. If the rheometer according to this particular construction has one rotatable and one stationary shaft, either shaft, or both, may have these ribbons and coils. According to another aspect of the invention, the rheometer may have a rotatable and/or stationary shaft consisting of a tape or rod of magnetostrictive material,— said shaft being surrounded by a coil connected to a measuring equipment and connectible to a current source at terminals on both sides of the coil. To obtain the desired accurate measurement, a rheo¬ meter frame is required which is far more stable than prior art frames, and to this end the present invention provides a frame having a stable base plate on which a massive body is mounted which has a central horizon¬ tal through opening into which the shafts extend verti¬ cally from opposing bores in the body, such that the sample-carrying portion of measuring probes lies approxi¬ mately in the center of the opening. The body is prefe¬ rably rectangular, and the opening therein is circular. The shafts project radialiy into the opening and are accommodated axially and centrally therein and surrounded by annular reinforcements integral with the body and provided on the wall defining the opening. The invention will be described in more detail below, reference being had to the accompanying drawings illustrating enbodi ents chosen by way of example. Fig. 1 is a lateral view, partly in section, of a portion of a rheometer according to the invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the rheometer shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a schematic lateral view of an arrangement of magnetoelastic ribbons on a shaft of the rheometer accor¬ ding to the Figs. 1 and 2, and coils surrounding the ribbons. Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a device for controlling the shaft rotation, and Fig. 5 illustrates, also schematically, a device for rotating a shaft and for measuring the shaft rotation. The rheometer as shown in Fig. 1 and 2 comprises a mounting or a base plate 10 of natural or artificial • stone of considerable weight. The plate 10 is supported by screw-threaded feet 11 for adjustment of the level of the plate 10. A body 12 is mounted on the plate 10, for example by means of bolts (not shown) and/or glue. The body 12 which is preferably made of cast iron, is square and has a central circular through opening 13 bevelled at its opposing ends, as shown at 14. The body 12 has through openings 15, 16 which are located vertically opposite each other and whose center axes extend radially in relation to the circular opening 13 and are located centrally between the flat sides of the body 12, as shown in Fig. 2. The openings 15, 16 are surrounded by annular reinforcements 17, 18 on the wall defining the opening 13. Adjacent their end facing the opening 13, the openings 15, 16 are provided with a shoul¬ der 19 and 20, respective. By means of the shoulder 19 an electric motor 21 having a surrounding flange 24 is moun¬ ted in the opening 15. In similar manner, a positioning device 26 to be described in more detail below is secured, by means of a flange 28, to the shoulder 20 in the 4 opening 16. A measuring probe 25 having a journal is mounted on the motor shaft 23 by means of a dismantleable coupling 24. In similar manner, a shaft 29 extends from the positioning devise 26 and is seured, by means of a coupling 31 corresponding to the coupling 24, to the journal of a measuring probe 32 located opposite' the measuring probe 25. In this enbodiment, the measuring probes 25, 32 are in the form of the discs having coaxial journals, although many other forms are, of course, conceivable. Thus, the disc of the measuring probe 32 can be replaced by a cup to accommodate a liquid sample, and for other applications the two measuring probes 25, 32 may be replaced by clips. A measuring equipment 30 to be described in more detail below is mounted coaxially on the positioning device 26. In broad outline, the rheometer as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is used in the following manner. If it is desired to determine the viscoelastic properties of a material, a sample P of the material is placed on the lower measuring probe 32, as shown i Fig. 1, by first activating the positioning device 26 for vertical downward movement of the shaft 29 together with the coupling 31 and the measuring probe 32, such that a space is obtained for placing the sample P on this measuring probe. Then the positioning device is again activated for moving for measuring probe 32 by means of the shaft 29 and the coupling 31 into an upper and exactly defined position at a predetermened distance from the upper measuring probe 25, in which position the sample P is in contact with both measuring probes. After that, the motor 21 is activated to rotate the upper shaft 23 in the desired manner, while the lower shaft 29 is held stationary. For this reason, the shafts 23 and 29 are identified below and in the claims as the rotary shaft 23 and the stationary shaft 29. It will be appreciated that the stationary shaft 29 can be entirely rigidly connected with the body 12, but it may also be braked in order to yield at a predetermined torque. The term "stationary shaft" therefore implies that the shaft 29 somehow is prevented from turning when the shaft 23 rotates. By means of the motor, the shaft 23 and thus the measuring probe 25 can be rotated at a constant or oscillating angular velocity, a linearly increasing or decreasing angular velocity, an angular velocity changing step- wise, etc. The rotation is transmitted to the stationary shaft via the sample P positioned between and in contact with measuring probes 25, 32, and by means of the measuring equipment 30 the torque transmitted to the measuring probe 32 and the shaft 29 via the sample P can be read, and a measure of the viscoelastic properties the material constituting the sample P is obtained. As has been mentioned before, the rheometer accor¬ ding to the invention is intended to provide extremely accurate measuring results, and for this reason the frame has the stable construction described above. However, this requires also a sensitive measuring equip¬ ment, and an example of the measuring equipment disposed within the casing 30 is shown schematically in Fig. 3. A peripherally arranged series of ribbons 47 of the magnetoelastic material mentioned in the introduction are provided on the shaft 29 extending through the casing 30, the ribbons being placed with their longitudi¬ nal direction in the axial direction of the shaft 29. Beneath the ribbons 47, there is shown in Fig. 3 a region of the shaft 29 which is entirely without magnetoelastic ribbons, followed by two series of ribbons 48 and 49 respectively. As will appear, the ribbons 49 form an angle of 45° with the axial direction. The ribbons 48, 49 consist, like the ribbons 47, of magnetoelastic mate¬ rial, preferably of the type commercially available under the trade mark METGLAS 2605SC. The ribbons may consist of individual units which are glued to the shaft 29 by means of a suitable glue which gives a highly rigid glue line so that any movements of the shaft 29 are trans- mitted to the ribbons and are not absorbed by the glue line. The ribbons 47, 48 and 49 may also be applied to the shaft by electrolytic means, or by so-called "sputtering". Mounted outside the ribbons 47, 48 and 49 and the region 50 of the shaft 29 having no ribbons, is a common primary coil 33 which extends coaxially with the shaft 29 and is out of contact with the shaft and the ribbons 47, 48, 49 affixed thereto. The pri¬ mary coil 33 is connected by means of wires (not shown) to a voltage source (not shown). Outside the primary coil 33, secondary coils 34, 35 are provided opposite the ribbons 47 and the region 50 without ribbons, res¬ pectively. In similar manner, secondary coils 36 and 37 are mounted outside the primary coil 33 opposite the ribbons 48 and 49, respectively. The secondary coils 34-37 are connected via terminals (not shown) to a suit¬ able measuring equipment. When the rotary shaft 23 is rotated by any of the above-mentioned methods, as indicated by the arrow ω, the stationary shaft 29 is subjected on the one hand to a pressure force indicated by the arrows F and, on the other hand, a torque indicated by the arrows M. As has been mentioned before, the permeability of the magnetoelastic ribbons is changed considerably al¬ ready by very low forces. The pressure force F 3.X trans- mitted to the shaft 29 during analisys of the sample P exerts a compressive strain primarily on the axially • directed ribbons 47, and even if the strain is very low, the magnetic properties of the ribbons 47 will thus be changed. In the embodiment according to Fig. 3, the coupling between the primary coil 33 and the secondary coil 34 is, because of the ribbons 47, far greater than the coupling between the primary coil 33 and the secondary coil 35 outside the region 50 having no magnetoelastic ribbons, and when the shaft is subjected to a pressure force, whereby the ribbons 47.are subjected to a compressive strain, the permeability of the ribbons and thus the coupling factor of the coils 33 and 34 will increase. Because of the increased permeability, the output voltage of the secondary coil 34 is increased, and the magnitude of the compressive force can be readily calculated by a comparison between the output voltages from the secondary coil 34 and the secondary coil 35. If the shaft 29 is subjected to tensile stress, the output signal of the secondary coil 34 is reduced cor¬ respondingly. The phase position of the sum signal indi¬ cates the direction of normal force. The ribbons 48 and 49 are used for torque calcula¬ tion. When the shaft 29 is subjected to a torque, the ribbons 48 opposite the secondary coil 36 will be sub¬ jected to a tensile force, whereas the ribbons 49 opposite the secondary coil 37 are subjected to a pressure force. The torque value is obtained by means of the measuring equipment connected to the secondary coils 36 and 37, ' and the phase position of sum signal indicates the di¬ rection of the torque. The arrangement of ribbons and coils as described above thus makes it possible to conveniently and extremely accurately measure the normal force transmitted to the shaft 29 and the direction thereof, as well as the torque transmitted to the shaft and the torque direction. In the above description, the stationary shaft is provided with ribbons and sur¬ rounded by coils, but it is possible, and for some appli¬ cations desirable, to provide also the rotary shaft, or only the rotary shaft, with such ribbons and coils. Occasionally, one may wish to check the exact rotation of either one or both shafts 23, 29, and for this purpose it is possible, in accordance with Fig. 4, to mount on the shaft 23 and/or 29 a wheel 38 coaxial therewith and provided on its periphery with teeth 39 having a predeter¬ mined width and spaced apart by tooth gaps which also have a predetermined width. Furthermore, differential transducers with magnetic field plates, i. e. magnetically sensitive resistors, may be disposed closely adjacent the periphery of the toothed wheel 38. By connecting the magnetic field plates to a suitable measuring circuit via an operational amplifier, an output signal is obtainable which gives a highly accurate indication of the shaft rotation. Preferably, use is made of two transducers 40 to provide signals phase-shifted through 90°. By means of such a per se known arrangemant, a shaft rotation through but a hundred thousanth part of a degree can be established. Also other means are connect¬ ible to the shafts 23, 29 to produce sinusoidal signals which are phase-shifted through 90° and whose phase posi¬ tion is then measured with high resolution. To rotate the shaft 23, it is possible to use, in¬ stead of the motor 21, the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 5. In this case, the shaft 23 consists of a magnetoelastic ribbon or rod of magnetostrictive material, a coil 41 being disposed around the shaft. The coil 41 is connected " to a voltage source 42 and on both sides of the coil 41 terminals 43, 44 are provided to which are connected the opposed ends of a wire 45 connected to a current source 46. If a longitudinal magnetic field surrounding the rod is produced by means of the coil 41, and if at the same time a current is caused to flow from the source 46 through the rod, the rod will rotate, and the rotation can be transmitted, via the measuring probe 25, to the sample P positioned between the measuring probes 25 and 32. Rotation occurs in one direction, if the current source 46 is a direct current source, while an oscillation is obtained if the current source 46 is an alternating current source. The stationary shaft 29 may be fixedly clamped and requires no measuring equipment since the viscoelastic properties of the sample P are obtainable by measuring the voltage across the terminals 43, 44 by means of a voltmeter 51 by disconnecting the current source 46 by means of a quick-acting electronic switch 52. The sta¬ tionary shaft 29 may, of course, have the equipment shown in Fig. 3, or an angule measuring system as shown in Fig. 4. However, the arrangement according to Fig. 5 may be used also on the stationary shaft for measuring the torque transmitted, in which case the current source 46 is also disconnected and replaced by the instrument 51 for measuring the voltage across the terminals 43, 44 when the rod forming the shaft is rotated by the transmitted- torque in the magnetic field generated by the voltage source 42.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A rheometer comprising a frame having at least one measuring probe (25, 32) which is rotable by means of a driving device and movable into engagement with a sample (P) whose viscoelastic properties are to be studied, and a measuring equipment for measuring energy transmitted from said measuring probe to said sample (P), c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the measuring probe (25, 32) has a portion (23) coaxial with the axis of rotation and provided with at least one peripheral set of ribbons (47 - 49), i. e. a material having a high magnetoelastic coupling factor, said portion being surrounded in contactless manner by at least one coil arrangement (33-37) which comprises a primary coil (33) connectible to a voltage source and a secondary coil (34-39), connected to a measuring equipment. 2. A rheometer comprising a frame with two shafts (23, 29), the ends of which are closely adjacent to one another and which are provided each with one measuring probe (25, 32), one of saod shafts being rotatable by means of a driving device, and the other shaft 'being stationary, a sample (P) whose viscoelastic properties are to be studied, being positionable between and in contact with the measuring probes which are spaced apart an exactly adjustable distance, and a measuring equipment for measuring energy transmitted from one measuring probe to the other via said sample (P), c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that rotatable and/or the stationary shaft (23, 29) has at least one peripheral set of ribbons (47-49) of magnetoelastic material, i.e. a material having a high magnetoelastic coupling factor, and is surrounded in contactless manner by at least one coil arrangement (33 — 37) comprising a primary coil (33) connectible to a voltage source and a secondary coil (34 - 39) connected to a measuring equipment. 11 • 3. A rheometer as claimed in claim 1 or 2, c h a- r a c t e r i s e d in that the magnetoelastic ribbons on the measuring probe portion and the shaft, respectively are arranged in a first set of ribbons (47) having their longitudinal direction in the axial direction and posi¬ tioned adjacent a shaft region (50) having no ribbons, and second and third sets of magnetoelastic ribbons (48, 49) which in their longitudinal direction form an angle of 45° and 135°, respectively, with the axial direction, said primary coil (33) covering all ribbon sets (47-49) and the region (50) having no ribbons, each ribbon set and the region having no ribbons being associated each with one secondary coil (34 - 37). 4. A rheometer as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the magnetoelastic ribbons (47 - 49) are in the form of tapes glued to the shaft, or consist of a magnetoelastic material de-' posited in fields on said shaft, for example by electro¬ lysis. 5. A rheometer as claimed in any one of claims 1 - 4, c a r a c t e r i s e d in that the measuring probe and the rotatable shaft (23), rectevively, are connected to a motor (21) of a type capable of driving the measuring probe in the manner desired for the measuring operation, for example at a constant or oscillating angular velocity, a linearly increasing angular velocity, a velocity change- ble by steps, etc. 6. A rheometer as claimed in any one of claims 1 - 4, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the rotary measuring probe is connected to, or the rotary shaft (23) consists of, a tape or rod of magnetostrictive material, the tape or rod being surrounded by a coil (41) connectible to a voltage source (42) fpr generating a magnetic field in said tape or rod and connectible,in terminals (43, 44) on both sides of said coil (41), to a current source (46) to cause said tape or rod to rotate upon application of a magnetic field. 7. A rheometer comprising a frame having two shafts (23, 29) the mutually adjacent ends of which are provided each with one measuring probe (25, 32), one shaft being rotatable by means of a driving device and the other shaft stationary, a sample (P) whose viscoelastic property is to be studied being disposable between and in contact with said measuring probes which are spaced apart an exactly adjustable distance, and a measuring equipment probe to the other via said sample (P), c h a r a c t e r i s e- d in that the rotary and/or stationary shaft (23 and 24, respectively) consists of a tape of magnetoelastic coupling factor, or a rod of magne- tostrictive material, which is surrounded by a coil con¬ nectible to a current source and, at terminals (43, 44) on either side of said coil (41), is connectible to a current source (46) or, alternatively, to a voltage measuring device (51). 8. A rheometer as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that a device for measuring the shaft rotation is connected to said rotatable measuring probe or said rotary and/or stationary shaft (23 and 29, respectively) said device comprising a means secured to the shaft and adapted to generate sinusoidal signals phase-shifted througt 90°, and means for measuring the phase position of said signals with high resolution. 9. A rheometer as claimed in any one of claims 2 - 8, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that said shafts are arranged in a massive body (12) mounted on a stable base plate (10) having a central horizontal through opening (13) into which said shafts (23, 29) project vertically from opposite bores (15, 16)) in the body (12), such that the sample—receiving portion of said measuring probes (25, 32) is positioned approximately centrally within said opening (13). 10. A rheometer as claimed in claim 9, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the body (12) is rectangular and the opening (13) therein is circular, and that the shafts (23, 29) project and axially central¬ ly into said opening (13) and are surrounded by angular reinforcements (17, 18) formed integrally with the body and arranged on the wall defining said opening.

Inventors: BOHLIN LEIF RUNE, LARSSON SVEN-ERIK, BOHLIN, LEIF, RUNE, LARSSON, SVEN-ERIK
Applicants: BOHLIN REOLOGI AB
Application year: 1987
Main classification: G01N11
IPC codes: G01N11, G01N19