Rota­tio­nal Vis­come­ters

Rota­tio­nal vis­come­ters have become a stan­dard in vir­tu­ally all indus­tries. They mea­sure vis­cos­ity by sens­ing the torque required to rotate a spin­dle at con­s­tant speed while immersed in fluid. The torque is pro­por­tio­nal to the vis­cous drag on the spin­dle; thus the sam­ple vis­cos­ity.

Ratio­nal vis­come­ters offer sev­eral advan­tages:

  • The cont­in­u­ous rota­tion of the spin­dle allows mea­sure­ments to be made over time, per­mitt­ing anal­y­sis of time-depen­dent fluids
  • The rate of shear is con­s­tant, so both New­to­nian and non-New­to­nian fluids can be tested
  • By rotat­ing the spin­dle at sev­eral dif­fer­ent speeds, shear depen­dent behavior can be ana­lyzed

Rota­tio­nal vis­come­ters are the indus­try stan­dard in deter­min­ing abso­lute vis­cos­ity of all types of liquids with vis­cosi­ties as high as 320 mil­lion cen­tipoise. BYK-Gard­ner offers dig­i­tal mod­els for low – medium – high vis­cos­ity mate­rials.

Select­ing the Proper Vis­come­ter

While vari­ous mod­els of vis­come­ters are rec­om­mended for high, medium, and low vis­cos­ity appli­ca­tions, these desig­na­tions are intended only as guide­lines. Mul­ti­ple speeds and interchange­able spin­dles on each vis­come­ter pro­vide many vis­cos­ity ranges for flex­i­bil­ity in appli­ca­tion. Select­ing the cor­rect model will ensure max­i­mum sen­si­tiv­ity and accu­racy in the mea­sured vis­cos­ity range.

Dig­i­tal Vis­come­ter DV-E

Coaxial Cylin­ders

  • Pro­vide rhe­o­log­i­cal data includ­ing shear stress and shear rate val­ues
  • Avai­l­able in sev­eral acces­sories: small sam­ple adapter, UL adapter and ther­mosel sys­tem

Cone and Plate Geome­try

  • For accu­rate deter­mi­na­tion at high shear rates with very small sam­ples

Spin­dle 1 is  >
an option 

RV, HA, and HB spin­dle set

LV Spin­dle Set

Rota­tio­nal Vis­come­ters:
Typ­i­cal Appli­ca­tions

Low Vis­cos­ity (LV)
Range: 15 to 2,000,000 cen­tipoise
Adh­e­sives (sol­vent); Chem­i­cals; Cos­met­ics; Hot Waxes; Inks (litho­graphic); Latex paints; Coat­ing sys­tems; Poly­mers; Rub­ber solu­tions; Sol­vents

Medium Vis­cos­ity (RV)
Range: 100 to 13,000,000 cen­tipoise
Adh­e­sives (hot melt); Ceramic slur­ries; Gums; Inks (screen print­ing); Paints; Paper coat­ings; Plas­ti­sols; Sur­face coat­ings; Var­nishes

High Vis­cos­ity (HA / HB)
Range: 200 to 104,000,000 cen­tipoise
Asphalt; Caulk­ing com­pounds; Epoxies; Gels; Inks (ball­point, off­set); Pastes; Putty; Roof­ing com­pounds; Sealants; Sheet mold­ing com­pounds

Spin­dle Geome­try

All vis­come­ters are sup­plied with spin­dles suit­able for most appli­ca­tions. There are sit­u­a­tions where spe­c­i­fied spin­dle geome­tries are neces­sary to achieve the best results. All spin­dles are made of stain­less steel. In addi­tion, quick cou­plings and spin­dle exten­sions are also avai­l­able for select spin­dles; for more infor­ma­tion please call cus­tomer ser­vice.

Disc Spin­dles

  • Gen­eral pur­pose appli­ca­tions for accu­rate and repro­du­ci­ble results
  • Included with the LV model (spin­dles #2 and #3)
  • Included with the RV/HA/HB mod­els (spin­dle #2 through #6)  

Cylin­dri­cal Spin­dles

  • Most appli­ca­tions involv­ing non-New­to­nian fluids such as paints
  • Pro­vide a sci­en­tif­i­cally defined spin­dle geome­try for cal­cu­lat­ing shear stress and shear rate val­ues to deter­mine vis­cos­ity
  • Appli­ca­ble to any model vis­come­ter
  • Included with the LV (spin­dles #1 and #4) and RV/HA/HB (spin­dle #7) mod­els

T-Bar Spin­dles

  • For mea­sur­ing non-flow­ing mate­rials such as pastes, gels, and creams
  • Gen­er­ally used with the Heli­path Stand