Showing papers in "Korea-australia Rheology Journal in 2007"

Compatibility of biodegradable poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) blends for packaging application

Abstract: Biodegradable polymeric blends are expected to be widely used by industry due to their environmental friendliness and comparable mechanical and thermal properties. Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) are such biodegradable polymers which aim to replace commodity polymers in future applications. Since cost and brittleness of PLA is quite high, it is not economically feasible to use it alone for day to day use as a packaging material without blending. In this study, blends of PLA and PBS with various compositions were prepared by using a laboratory-scale twin-screw extruder at 180oC. Morphological, thermal, rheological and mechanical properties were investigated on the samples obtained by compression molding to explore suitability of these compositions for packaging applications. Morphology of the blends was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Morphology showed a clear phase difference trend depending on blend composition. Modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) thermograms of the blends indicated that the glass transition temperature ( ) of PLA did not change much with the addition of PBS, but analysis showed that for PLA/PBS blend of up to 80/20 composition there is partial miscibility between the two polymers. The tensile strength and modulus were measured by the Instron Universal Testing Machine. Tensile strength, modulus and percentage (%) elongation at break of the blends decreased with PBS content. However, tensile strength and modulus values of PLA/PBS blend for up to 80/20 composition nearly follow the mixing rule. Rheological results also show miscibility between the two polymers for PBS composition less than 20% by weight. PBS reduced the brittleness of PLA, thus making it a contender to replace plastics for packaging applications. This work found a partial miscibility between PBS and PLA by investigating thermal, mechanical and morphological properties.

The rheological behavior of collagen dispersion/poly(vinyl alcohol) blends

Abstract: Blends of collagen dispersion (COL) with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in different weight ratios were investigated by oscillatory rheometry, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that even with 80% of PVA, the COL/PVA blends behaved more like collagen dispersion than pure PVA solution in the dynamic thermal and frequency processing, for instance, a dominant elastic appearance (G'>G"), a similar shear thinning behavior and the thermal denaturation below . However, influence on the blend behaviour by PVA was noticeable, for instance, an increase of dynamic denaturation temperature, the decreasing intensity of amide I, II and III bands as well as the diminishing irregular pores on the surface of blends. The interaction between collagen and PVA could be observed, especially at the regions with low content or high content of PVA.

Measurement of cell aggregation characteristics by analysis of laser-backscattering in a microfluidic rheometry

Abstract: The aggregation characteristics of red blood cells (RBCs) are known as important factors in the microvascular flow system, and increased RBC aggregation has been observed in various pathological diseases, such as thrombosis and myocardial infarction. This paper describes a simple microfluidic device for measuring the RBC aggregation by integrating a microfluidic slit rheometry and laser-backscattering technique. While a decreasing-pressure mechanism was applied to the microfluidic rheometry, a syllectogram (the light intensity versus time) showed an initial increase and a peak caused by the high shear stress-induced disaggregation, immediately followed by a decrease in the light intensity due to RBC aggregation. The critical shear stress (CST) corresponding to the peak intensity was examined as a new index of the RBC aggregation characteristics. The CST of RBCs increased with increasing aggregation-dominating protein (fibrinogen) in the blood plasma. The essential feature of this design was the combination of the rheometric-optic characterization of RBC aggregation with a microfluidic chip, which may potentially allow cell aggregation measurements to be easily carried out in a clinical setting.

Structure-property relationship of melt intercalated maleated polyethylene nanocomposites

Abstract: Low density polyethylene nanocomposites were prepared by melt intercalating maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene and montmorillonite clay. It has been found that maleic anhydride has promoted strong interactions between polyethylene and montmorillonite, leading to the homogeneous dispersion of clay layers. Rheological experiments revealed that prepared nanocomposites exhibited shear thinning behaviour. Polyethylene nanocomposites exhibited an increase in steady shear viscosities compared to virgin polyethylene owing to strong polymer clay interactions. The tensile strength of nanocomposites was improved but elongation at break decreased considerably. Also, barrier properties improved significantly with montmorillonite content.

Effect of particle migration on the heat transfer of nanofluid

Abstract: A nanofluid is a mixture of solid nanoparticles and a common base fluid. Nanofluids have shown great potential in improving the heat transfer properties of liquids. However, previous studies on the characteristics of nanofluids did not adequately explain the enhancement of heat transfer. This study examined the distribution of particles in a fluid and compared the mechanism for the enhancement of heat transfer in a nanofluid with that in a general microparticle suspension. A theoretical model was formulated with shear-induced particle migration, viscosity-induced particle migration, particle migration by Brownian motion, as well as the inertial migration of particles. The results of the simulation showed that there was no significant particle migration, with no change in particle concentration in the radial direction. A uniform particle concentration is very important in the heat transfer of a nanofluid. As the particle concentration and effective thermal conductivity at the wall region is lower than that of the bulk fluid, due to particle migration to the center of a microfluid, the addition of microparticles in a fluid does not affect the heat transfer properties of that fluid. However, in a nanofluid, particle migration to the center occurs quite slowly, and the particle migration flux is very small. Therefore, the effective thermal conductivity at the wall region increases with increasing addition of nanoparticles. This may be one reason why a nanofluid shows a good convective heat transfer performance.

In-vitro study on the hemorheological characteristics of chicken blood in microcirculation

Abstract: The flow characteristics of chicken blood in a micro-tube with a 100 μm diameter are investigated using a micro-Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique. Chicken blood with 40% hematocrit is supplied into the micro-tube using a syringe pump. For comparison, the same experiments are repeated for human blood with 40% hematocrit. Chicken blood flow has a cell-free layer near the tube wall, and this layer’s thickness increases with the increased flow speed due to radial migration. As a hemorheological feature, the aggregation index of chicken blood is about 50% less than that of human blood. Therefore, the non-Newtonian fluid features of chicken blood are not very remarkable compared with those of human blood. As the flow rate increases, the blunt velocity profile in the central region of the micro-tube sharpens, and the parabolicshaped shear stress distribution becomes to have a linear profile. The viscosity of both blood samples in a low shear rate condition is overestimated, while the viscosity in a high shear rate range is underestimated due to radial migration and the presence of a cell-depleted layer.

Transverse permeability measurement of a circular braided preform in liquid composite molding

Abstract: In liquid composite molding (LCM), composites are produced by impregnation of a dry preform with liquid resin. The resin flow through the preform is usually described by Darcy’s law and the permeability tensor must be obtained for filling analysis. While the resin flow in the thickness direction can be neglected for thin parts, the resin flow in the transverse direction is important for thicker parts. However, the transverse permeability of the preform has not been investigated frequently. In this study, the transverse permeability was measured experimentally for five different fiber preforms. In order to verify the experimental results, the measured transverse permeability was compared with numerical results. Five different fiber mats were used in this study: glass fiber woven fabric, aramid fiber woven fabric, glass fiber random mat, glass fiber braided preform, and glass/aramid hybrid braided preform. The anisotropic braided preforms were manufactured by using a three dimensional braiding machine. The pressure was measured at the inlet and outlet positions with pressure transducers.

Using oscillatory shear to probe the effects of bidispersity in inverse ferrofluids

Abstract: The effects of particle size distribution on the magnetorheological response of inverse ferrofluids was investigated using controlled mixtures of two monodisperse non-magnetisable powders of sizes 4.6 µm and 80 µm at constant volume fraction of 30%, subjected to large amplitude oscillatory shear flow. In the linear viscoelastic regime (pre-yield region), it was found that the storage and loss moduli were dependent on the particle size as well as the proportion of small particles, with the highest storage modulus occurring for the monodisperse small particles. In the nonlinear regime (post yield region), Fourier analysis was used to compare the behaviour of the 1 st and 3 rd harmonics (I1 and I3 respectively) as well as the fundamental phase angle as functions of the applied strain amplitude. The ratio of I3/I1 was found to become more pronounced with decreasing particle size as well as with increasing proportion of small particles in the bidisperse mixtures. Furthermore, the phase angle was able to clearly show the transition from solid-like to viscous behaviour. The results suggested that the nonlinear response of a bidisperse IFF is dependent on particle size as well as the proportion of small particles in the system.

Spherical and cylindrical microencapsulation of living cells using microfluidic devices

Abstract: Microencapsulation of cells within microfluidic devices enables explicit control of the membrane thickness or cell density, resulting in improved viability of the transplanted cells within an aggressive immune system. In this study, living cells (3T3 and L929 fibroblast cells) are encapsulated within a semi-permeable membrane (calcium crosslinked alginate gel) in two different device designs, a flow focusing and a core-annular flow focusing geometry. These two device designs produce a bead and a long microfibre, respectively. For the alginate bead, an alginate aqueous solution incorporating cells flows through a flow focusing channel and an alginate droplet is formed from the balance of interfacial forces and viscous drag forces resulting from the continuous (oil) phase flowing past the alginate solution. It immediately reacts with an adjacent CaCl drop that is extruded into the main flow channel by another flow focusing channel downstream of the site of alginate drop creation. Depending on the flow conditions, monodisperse microbeads of sizes ranging from 50-200 μm can be produced. In the case of the microfibre, the alginate solution with cells is extruded into a continuous phase of CaCl solution. The diameter of alginate fibres produced via this technique can be tightly controlled by changing both flow rates. Cell viability in both forms of alginate encapsulant was confirmed by a LIVE/DEAD cell assay for periods of up to 24 hours post encapsulation.

Shear-induced color transition of PDA (polydiacetylene) liposome in polymeric solutions

Abstract: The polydiacethylene (PDA) is known to change its color by mechanical shear. The shear-induced color transition has been reported with elastomer or film type of PDA. In this paper, we newly investigated the transition with liposome type of PDAs in polymeric solutions. The liposomes were dispersed in Poly(vinyl alcohol) 2% + Sodium borate 1%, Poly(vinyl alcohol) 15% and Hyaluronic acid 1% (PVA/B, PVA, HA). The shear stress was continuously imposed to each solution by stress control type rheometer with coni-cylinder fixture. The degree of color transition was quantified with the characteristic absorbance peak at 540 nm (blue) and 640 nm (red). As a result, PDA liposome in PVA/B solution changed the color from blue to red upon increasing the magnitude of shear (from 0 to 100 Pa) and the duration of shear-imposed time (from 0 to 5400 sec). Meanwhile, PDA liposome in HA or PVA solution did not noticeably change the color, even though the low shear viscosities of the solutions were kept almost constant. This color transition of PDA liposome is expected to measure the magnitude of shear, and to distinguish different responses of polymeric solutions to the applied shear.

Fabrication of micro injection mold with modified LIGA micro-lens pattern and its application to LCD-BLU

Abstract: The light guide plate (LGP) of LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display-Back Light Unit) is usually manufactured by forming numerous dots by etching process. However, the surface of those etched dots of LGP is very rough due to the characteristics of etching process, so that its light loss is relatively high due to the dispersion of light. Accordingly, there is a limit in raising the luminance of LCD-BLU. In order to overcome the limit of current etched-dot patterned LGP, micro-lens pattern was tested to investigate the possibility of replacing etched pattern in the present study. The micro-lens pattern fabricated by the modified LiGA with thermal reflow process was applied to the optical design of LGP. The attention was paid to the effects of different optical pattern type (i.e. etched dot, micro-lens). Finally, the micro-lens patterned LGP showed better optical qualities than the one made by the etched-dot patterned LGP in luminance.

Microchip-based cell aggregometer using stirring-disaggregation mechanism

Abstract: A new microchip-based aggregometer that uses a stirring-aided disaggregation mechanism in a microchip was developed to measure red blood cell (RBC) aggregation in blood and RBC suspensions. Conventional methods of RBC disaggregation, such as the rotational Couette system, were replaced with a newly designed stirring-induced disaggregation mechanism. Using a stirrer in a microchip, the aggregated RBCs stored in a microchip can be easily disaggregated. With an abrupt halt of the stirring, the backscattered light intensity can be measured in a microchip with respect to time. The time recording of the backscattered light intensity (syllectogram) shows an exponential decreasing curve representing the RBC aggregation. By analyzing the syllectogram, aggregation indices such as AI and M were determined. The results showed excellent agreement with LORCA. The essential feature of this design is the incorporation of a disposable microchip and the stirring-induced disaggregation mechanism.

A study of birefringence, residual stress and final shrinkage for precision injection molded parts

Abstract: Precision injection molding process is of great importance since precision optical products such as CD, DVD and various lens are manufactured by those process. In such products, birefringence affects the optical performance while residual stress that determines the geometric precision level. Therefore, it is needed to study residual stress and birefringence that affect deformation and optical quality, respectively in precision optical product. In the present study, we tried to predict residual stress, final shrinkage and birefringence in injection molded parts in a systematic way, and compared numerical results with the corresponding experimental data. Residual stress and birefringence can be divided into two parts, namely flow induced and thermally induced portions. Flow induced birefringence is dominant during the flow, whereas thermally induced stress is much higher than flow induced one when amorphous polymer undergoes rapid cooling across the glass transition region. A numerical system that is able to predict birefringence, residual stress and final shrinkage in injection molding process has been developed using hybrid finite element-difference method for a general three dimensional thin part geometry. The present modeling attempts to integrate the analysis of the entire process consistently by assuming polymeric materials as nonlinear viscoelastic fluids above a no-flow temperature and as linear viscoelastic solids below the no-flow temperature, while calculating residual stress, shrinkage and birefringence accordingly. Thus, for flow induced ones, the Leonov model and stress-optical law are adopted, while the linear viscoelastic model, photoviscoelastic model and free volume theory taking into account the density relaxation phenomena are employed to predict thermally induced ones. Special cares are taken of the modeling of the lateral boundary condition which can consider product geometry, histories of pressure and residual stress. Deformations at and after ejection have been considered using thin shell viscoelastic finite element method. There were good correspondences between numerical results and experimental data if final shrinkage, residual stress and birefringence were compared.

Measuring rheological properties using a slotted plate device

Abstract: The slotted plate technique has previously been shown to be a successful method for directly measuring the static yield stress of suspensions. In this study, we further establish the usefulness of the slotted plate device as a rheometer especially at low shear rates, taking advantage of the extremely low speeds of the slotted plate technique. Newtonian fluids, a shear thinning fluid, and yield stress fluids were tested using the slotted plate device and the results were compared with those from a commercial rheometer using different standard flow geometries. The relationship between the stress on the plate and the viscosity for the slotted plate device obtained by dimensional analysis (drag) predicts a linear relationship between the force at the plate and the plate speed, consistent with the experimental data. The slotted plate device can measure viscosities at very low shear rates. The apparent viscosity − shear-rate data obtained from the slotted plate device are complementary to those obtained using a commercial rheometer. That is : the slotted plate can measure viscosity in the shear rate range 10 −7 < < 10 −3 s −1 , while the commercial rheometer measures viscosity at shear rates higher than 10 −3 s −1

Rheological properties of branched polycarbonate prepared by an ultrasound-assisted intensive mixer

Abstract: By combining ultrasonic energy which is essential for the chain scission of polymer molecules and a multifunctional agent (MFA) having double bonds at its ends, we were able to modify the molecular structure of polycarbonate (PC) from linear to a branched structure during melt processing. The three double bonds in chain ends of MFA were expected to act as sites for trapping macroradicals of PC during the course of ultrasound-assisted mixing process. The transformation of molecular structure of PC was confirmed by the measurements of rheological properties of the modified PC. After the ultrasonic irradiation of PC together with MFA, increase in complex viscosities and shear-thinning behavior were observed. The Cole-Cole plot and measurement of extensional viscosities revealed the characteristic features of branched structure with well-defined extensional behavior which is comparable to that of a commercial branched PC.

Behaviour of field-responsive suspensions under oscillatory shear flow

Abstract: There has been considerable interest in recent years in field-responsive suspensions, which are of some importance in industry in many different applications. The microstructure of these materials is a significant issue which can be probed by rheological measurements. In this study, measurements were made of a magnetorheological fluid (MRF) under steady and oscillatory shear flow, with and without a magnetic field. Mathematical inversion was used to derive the relaxation time spectrum of the MRF from oscillatory shear data. Experimental evidence is presented of the gel-like properties of this MRF.

Numerical study of flow of Oldroyd-3-Constant fluids in a straight duct with square cross-section

Abstract: A finite volume method (FVM) base on the SIMPLE algorithm as the pressure correction strategy and the traditional staggered mesh is used to investigate steady, fully developed flow of Oldroyd-3-constant fluids through a duct with square cross-section. Both effects of the two viscoelastic material parameters, We and μ, on pattern and strength of the secondary flow are investigated. An amusing sixteen vortices pattern of the secondary flow, which has never been reported, is shown in the present work. The reason for the changes of the pattern and strength of the secondary flow is discussed carefully. We found that it is variation of second normal stress difference that causes the changes of the pattern and strength of the secondary flow.

Dynamic percolation grid Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract: A dynamic Monte Carlo percolation grid simulation is used to predict the cure behaviour of thermoset materials. Molecules are distributed in a fixed grid and a probability of reaction is assigned to each pair of neighbouring units considering both reaction rates and diffusion. The concentration and network characteristics are predicted throughout the whole curing process and compared to experimental data for an epoxy-amine matrix.

Tethered DNA shear dynamics in the flow gradient plane: application to double tethering

Abstract: We examine the wall contact of a tethered DNA chain's free end under shear with a focus on developing schemes for double-tethering in the application of making scaffolds for molecular wires. At this scale our results are found to be highly dependent on small length scale rigidity. Chain-end-wall contact frequency, mean fractional extension deficit upon contact, and standard deviation in extension upon contact are examined for scaling with dimensionless flow strength, Wi. Predictions made using a one dimensional approximation to the Smoluchowski equation for a dumbbell and three dimensional dumbbell simulations produce extension deficit, standard deviation, and frequency scaling exponents of -1/3, -1/3, and 2/3, respectively whereas more fine-grained Kratky-Porod (KP) simulations produce scaling exponents of -0.48, -0.42, and 0.76. The contact frequency scaling of 2/3 is derived from the known results regarding cyclic dynamics Analytical scaling predictions are in agreement with those previously proposed for . [Ladoux and Doyle, 2000, Doyle et al., 2000]. Our results suggest that the differences between the dumbbell and the KP model are associated with the addition of chain discretization and the correct bending potential in the latter. These scaling results will aide future exploration in double tethering of DNA to a surface.

Wall charge effects on structural properties of a coarse-grained FENE polyelectrolyte confined in slit nanochannels by Brownian dynamics simulation

Abstract: A polyelectrolyte chain confined in a slit nanochannel exhibits a structural transition from the one in free space. In this paper, the effect of the long-range electrostatic interactions between the xanthan polyelectrolyte and the slit wall on the confined xanthan conformation is investigated via the Brownian dynamics simulation. A neutral and two negatively charged surfaces of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and glass are combined to make four kinds of slit channels with different charge characteristics: i) neutral-neutral, ii) glass-glass, iii) neutral-PDMS and iv) neutral-glass walls. Their walls are characterized by uniform surface charge densities determined from experimental data of zeta potential. Both the nonmonotonic chain size variation and the loss of long-range bond vector correlation, previously observed under confinement in the PDMS-PDMS slit, are also found in the neutral slit, demonstrating the nonelectrostatic origin of such crossover behaviors. As expected, the effect of wall charges is negligible at sufficiently high medium ionic strength of 100mM but it becomes significant in the opposite limit of 0.01mM. In the latter case, the high charge density of glass walls strengthens the effective confinement of a negatively charged polyelectrolyte and produces a xanthan structure comparable to that confined in a much narrower neutral slit. The obtained structural data suggest the possibility of controlling the structure of confined polyelectrolytes by the modification of surface charge characteristics of micro/nanofluidic devices in combination with the adjustment of the medium ionic strength.

Stability analysis of a three-layer film casting process

Abstract: The co-extrusion of multi-layer films has been studied with the focus on its process stability. As in the single-layer film casting process, the productivity of the industrially important multi-layer film casting and the quality of thus produced films have often been hampered by various instabilities occurring in the process including draw resonance, a supercritical Hopfbifurcation instability, frequently encountered when the draw ratio is raised beyond a certain critical value. In this study, this draw resonance instability along with the neck-in of the film width has been investigated for a three-layer film casting using a varying width non-isothermal 1-D model of the system with Phan-Thien and Tanner (PTT) constitutive equation known for its robustness in portraying extensional deformation processes. The effects of various process conditions, e.g., the aspect ratio, the thickness ratio of the individual film layers, and cooling of the process, on the stability have been examined through the nonlinear stability analysis.

Numerical result of complex quick time behavior of viscoelastic fluids in flow domains with traction boundaries

Abstract: Here we demonstrate complex transient behavior of viscoelastic liquid described numerically with the Leonov model in straight and contraction channel flow domains. Finite element and implicit Euler time integration methods are employed for spatial discretization and time marching. In order to stabilize the computational procedure, the tensor-logarithmic formulation of the constitutive equation with SUPG and DEVSS algorithms is implemented. For completeness of numerical formulation, the so called traction boundaries are assigned for flow inlet and outlet boundaries. At the inlet, finite traction force in the flow direction with stress free condition is allocated whereas the traction free boundary is assigned at the outlet. The numerical result has illustrated severe forward-backward fluctuations of overall flow rate in inertial straight channel flow ultimately followed by steady state of forward flow. When the flow reversal occurs, the flow patterns exhibit quite complicated time variation of streamlines. In the inertialess flow, it takes much more time to reach the steady state in the contraction flow than in the straight pipe flow. Even in the inertialess case during startup contraction flow, quite distinctly altering flow patterns with the lapse of time have been observed such as appearing and vanishing of lip vortices, coexistence of multiple vortices at the contraction comer and their merging into one.

Shear stress analysis of phosphorylated potato starch based electrorheological fluid

Abstract: Electrorheological characteristics of a dispersed system of phosphorylated potato starch particles in silicone oil investigated via a rotational rheometer equipped with a high voltage generator is being reanalysized. Flow curves of these ER fluids both under several applied electric field strengths and with different degrees of phosphate substitution were mainly examined via three different rheological constitutive equations of Bingham model, De Kee-Turcotte model and our previously proposed CCJ model. Among these, the CCJ equation was found to fit the data of phosphorylated potato starch well.

Orientation and deformation of FENE dumbbells in confined microchannel and contraction flow geometry

Abstract: The orientation and deformation of polymer chains in a confined channel flow has been investigated. The polymer chain was modeled as a Finitely Extensible Nonlinear Elastic (FENE) dumbbell. The Brownian configuration field method was extended to take the interaction between the flow and local chain dynamics into account. Drag and Brownian forces were treated as anisotropic in order to reflect the influence of the wall in the confined flow. Both Poiseuille flow and 4 : 1 contraction flow were considered. Of particular interest was molecular tumbling of polymer chains near the wall. It was strongly influenced by anisotropic drag and high shear close to the wall. We discussed the mechanism of this particular behavior in terms of the governing forces. The dumbbell configuration was determined not only by the wall interaction but also by the flow type of the geometric origin. The effect of extensional flow on dumbbell configuration was also discussed by comparing with the Poiseuille flow.

Finite element analysis of elastic solid/Stokes flow interaction problem

Abstract: We performed a numerical investigation to find out the optimal choice of the spatial discretization in the distributed-Lagrangian-multiplier/fictitious-domain (DLM/FD) method for the solid/fluid interaction problem. The elastic solid bar attached on the bottom in a pressure-driven channel flow of a Newtonian fluid was selected as a model problem. Our formulation is based on the scheme of Yu (2005) for the interaction between flexible bodies and fluid. A fixed regular rectangular discretization was applied for the description of solid and fluid domain by using the fictitious domain concept. The hydrodynamic interaction between solid and fluid was treated implicitly by the distributed Lagrangian multiplier method. Considering a simplified problem of the Stokes flow and the linearized elasticity, two numerical factors were investigated to clarify their effects and to find the optimum condition: the distribution of Lagrangian multipliers and the solid/fluid interfacial condition. The robustness of this method was verified through the mesh convergence and a pseudo-time step test. We found that the fluid stress in a fictitious solid domain can be neglected and that the Lagrangian multipliers are better to be applied on the entire solid domain. These results will be used to extend our study to systems of elastic particle in the Stokes flow, and of particles in the viscoelastic fluid.

Effect of shear on poly(styrene-b-isoprene) copolymer micelles

Abstract: The use of various shearing apparatuses to study the phase behavior of poly(styrene-b-isoprene) diblock copolymer micelles is described. A DMTA rheometer was modified so that one can apply oscillatory shear and obtain the scattering pattern along the shear gradient direction. A cone and plate shear cell was designed to access scattering along the shear vorticity direction, and both oscillatory and steady shear can be applied. The most popular way to employ steady shear on relatively low viscosity fluids is to use a Couette cell, because a high shear rate can be readily achieved without disturbing the sample by overflow. In this work, oscillatory shear was used to obtain a single crystal-like scattering pattern, and thereby to examine the mechanism of the thermotropic transition between face-centered cubic (fcc) and body-centered cubic (bcc) lattices. By applying the steady shear, the response of the fcc lattices to various shear rates is discussed.

A study on the fabrication method of middle size LGP using continuous micro-lenses made by LIGA reflow

Abstract: LCD-BLU (Liquid Crystal Display-Back Light Unit) of medium size is usually manufactured by forming numerous dots with in diameter by etching process and V-grove shape with in height by mechanical cutting process. However, the surface of the etched dots is very rough due to the characteristics of the etching process and V-cutting needs rather high cost. Instead of existing optical pattern made by etching and mechanical cutting, 3-dimensional continuous micro-lens of in diameter was applied in the present study. The continuous micro-lens pattern fabricated by modified LIGA with thermal reflow process was tested to this new optical design of LGP. The manufacturing process using LIGA-reflow is made up of three stages as follows: (i) the stage of lithography, (ii) the stage of thermal reflow process and (iii) the stage of electroplating. The continuous micro-lens patterned LGP was fabricated with injection molding and its test results showed the possibility of commercial use in the future.

Temperature effect on spherical Couette flow of Oldroyd-B fluid

Abstract: The present paper is concerned with non-isothermal spherical Couette flow of Oldroyd-B fluid in the annular region between two concentric spheres. The inner sphere rotates with a uniform angular velocity while the outer sphere is kept at rest. Moreover, the two spherical boundaries are maintained at fixed temperature values. Hence, the fluid is effect by two heat sources; namely, the viscous heating and the temperature gradient between the two spheres. The viscoelasticity of the fluid is assumed to dominate the inertia such that the latter can be neglected. An approximate analytical solution of the energy and momentum equations is obtained through the expansion of the dynamical fields in power series of Nahme number. The analysis show that, the temperature variation due to the external source appears in the zero order solution and its effect extends to the fluid velocity distribution up to present second order. Viscous heating contributes in the first and second order solutions. In contrast to isothermal case, a first order axial velocity and a second order stream function fields has been appeared. Moreover, at higher orders the temperature distribution depends on the gap width between the two spheres. Finally, there exist a thermal distribution of positive and negative values depend on their positions in the domain region between the two spheres.