A new instrument for measuring the viscoelastic properties of dilute polymer solutions

A new oscillating capillary viscometer has been developed and used for measuring viscoelastic flow properties of dilute polymer solutions. These flow properties are determined from measurements of the pressure to volume flow relationships for sinusoidal flow in cylindrical glass capillaries. The theory for this measurement procedure is based upon the known theory for oscillatory flow of a viscoelastic fluid in circular tubes and which is presented with a few supplementations in this paper.The oscillatory flow is generated by a piezoelectric driver which is dipped directly into the aqueous solution. The advantage of this driver is that the excitation voltage for the piston is a direct measure of the motion of the piston. Changes in pressure are measured with a sensitive low-pressure quartz tranducer.The viscometer was tested with aqueous glycerol solutions and a gelatin gel. The viscoelastic flow properties of dilute polymer solutions (gelatin, gelatin/color-coupler, polyacrylamide) were then investigated in the frequency range 5 Hz to 150 Hz at very small volume flow amplitudes. The results presented illustrate the suitability of the method. The results are also evaluated with regard to the stabilizing action of slightly viscoelastic gelatinous coating liquids in the high-speed coating process in the manufacture of photographic materials.