facilities

rheology lab

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ARES III Rheometrics Instruments

RDA III Rheometrics Instruments

The RDA III is a strain controlled rotational rheometer used for measuring the viscoelastic properties of high viscosity (>1000 cp) fluids and polymer melts. Available fixtures are stainless steel 25 mm parallel plate, 25 mm cone and plate (angle = 0.04 radian), and 40 mm parallel plate. The minimum torque transducer range is 2 to 1500 gm cm and the normal force range is 2 to 1500 gm. The oven is capable of reaching temperatures of 600 C, but the maximu temperature is currently set for 300 C.

RFX Rheometrics Instruments

This device is an opposed nozzle extensional viscometer, which is reasonably accurate for higher shear viscosity solutions. Two syringe pumps in combination with a set of different sized nozzles can be used to get varying extensional rates.

microscopy room

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Optical Microscopy Facility

· Nikon Eclipse E600 Epifluorescence Microscope equipped with 100W Hg Lamp.

· Electron Bombarded CCD (EBCCD) B/W Camera (Hamamatsu Photonics, Japan) with real time imaging capability and CoolSnap Color Camera (Roper Scientific).

· The microscope is equipped with a xyz-positioning stage (Prior ProScan with 0.1 um resolution and 1 um repetability).

· The imaging system is controlled by the software Metamorph (Universal Imaging, Inc.).

· The microscope can also be operated under transmitted light.