/"HGVUCnL VNGINRING

b ^ FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Department Editor: Scott Jenkins
leasurement of fluids' viscosity in I the chemical process industries (CPI) can represent a useful "product dimension" for manufacturers. Understanding a material's flow characteristics is valuable in predicting several parameters relevant to many CPI processes, including pumpability, pourability, performance in a dipping or coating operation, ease of handling or processing. The relationship between rheology (study of the flow of matter) and other properties often makes viscosity measurement a sensitive and convenient method for detecting changes in other product parameters, such as density, stability, solids content or molecular weight.

Viscosity i\/leasurement

Fluid behavior TABLE 1. VISCOSITIES OF COMMON Many fluids, like water or MATERIALS gasoline, exhibit Newtonian Temperature Viscosity Material name behavior, which is to say that their (CP) CC) viscosity remains constant with 1.1 20 Ethanol varying shear rates. Viscosity of a 1.79 0 Newtonian fluid depends only on Water temperature and pressure, but not 1.0 20 Water on the forces acting on the mate100 0.28 Water rial. For Newtonian fluids, plotting 24.2 25 shear stress versus shear rate (a Sulfuric acid rheogram) yields a straight line -450 Motor oii (SAE 30) 20 that passes through the origin. The 3-4 37 Blood slope is equal to the viscosity. 1,380 25 Corn syrup However, many materials in the CPI behave in non-Newtonian -3 20 Milk ways, so that the rate of shear is 16.1 25 Ethylene glycoi not linearly proportional to the 0.30 20 Acetone corresponding stress. For many VISCOSITY FRAMEWORK applications in the CPI, expres81 20 Olive oii sions of viscosity as a single value Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's internal 20 10 Honey fail to capture the full picture friction. Caused by intermolecular at1,420 Glycerin 20 of the many factors that affect traction, viscosity can be thought of as viscosity. Non-Newtonian viscosity resistance to flow. This friction becomes -250,000 20 Peonut butter behavior include the following: apparent when a layer of fluid is made to 0.019 18 Air move in relation to another layer. More Pseudoplasticity (shear-thinning) 10'-10^1 20 Giass friction requires more force to effect this occurs when a fluid's viscosity movement, called shear. Shearing occurs decreases with increasing shear when fluids undergo physical moverate. Many emulsions, polymer melts sure the consistency of results, it is critical ment or distribution, such as in pouring, that the temperature be closely defined and solutions, paints, blood and some spreading, spraying and mixing. w h e n making viscosity measurements. solid suspensions exhibit this property Thixotropy \s a situation where a fluid's Rheometers are related, but relatively more complex, instruments that function Flow of. layers viscosity decreases over time under across a very w i d e range of shear rates, Isaac Newton defined viscosity by considconstant shear stress. Clay suspensions enabling the simulation of real processes ering the model represented in Figure 1. used as drilling muds, mayonnaise and that occur over vastly different timescales, Two parallel planes of fluid of equal area some paints and inks behave this way A are separated by a distance dx and are Rheopectic behavior is the less-common such as in sedimentation a n d s p r a y i n g . moving in the same direction at different opposite of thixotropy shear stress Yield s t r e s s velocities V and V2. increases at constant shear rate. A gypFor many CPI applications, yield stress sum suspension in water is an example is an important parameter to measure. Di/otonf (shear-thickening) fluids show Yield stress is the force required to cause increasing viscosity with increasing a material to begin flowing. For example, shear rate. Dilatant behavior is obyield stress represents the force that must be served in starch suspensions in water, overcome when a pump is switched on. The quicksand and in some high molecularstartup torque required for a pump must be weight polymers used in drilling muds calculated to ensure proper sizing.

Mi

VISCOSITY MEASUREMENT
Newton assumed that the force required to maintain this difference in speed was proportional to the difference in speed through the liquid, or the velocity gradient. The velocity gradient, dv/dx, represents the change in speed at which the layers move with respect to each other. It describes the shearing the liquid experiences, and'is thus called shear rate [ / ] . Its units are reciprocal seconds (s"'). The term F/A indicates the force per unit area required to produce the shearing action (dynes/cm2). Viscosity is the ratio of shear stress to shear rate. w h e n testing materials that flow, it is important to think about how the material wiil be processed and handled when in use. Analytical procedures for simulating the shearing action with an instrument is the key to predicting flow behavior. Rotational viscometers are a common tool, wherein a spindle with a defined geometry is inserted into the fluid to be measured. The spindle rotates at various fixed speeds, shearing the material at constant shear rates. The viscometer measures the torque resistance experienced by the spindle at different rotational speeds. As temperatures increase, most materials exhibit a decrease in viscosity. To en-

Controlled stress rheometers are the tools of choice in measuring yield stress. The method is to run a "shear ramp," where increasing torque is applied to the spindle until rotation of the instrument is observed. Such a test con yield a numerical value that con be used by process engineers to determine yield stress of the material. This information can, in turn, be used in pump sizing calculations for stortup torque a n d full flow conditions. References 1. Brookfield engineering educational website, www.brookfieldengineeri ng.com/education, 2010. 2. McGregor, Robert G., Viscosity: The basics, Chem. Eng., August 2009, pp. 34-39. 3. "Perry's Chemical Engineering Handbook," 7th ed. McGraw Hill, 1997.

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