Materials science is the complex interdisciplinary field associated with the discovery, manufacture, and application of novel material arrangements. It is fundamentally concerned with understanding the physiochemical structure of a liquid, solid, or amorphous material, as well as its properties, performance, and processing capabilities. These overarching principles are known as material characterization.
Material characterization has been carried out using a range of established methods. These techniques fall roughly into one of two categories: invasive or non-invasive material characterization. Each one has benefits and drawbacks for assessing the performance of materials under thermodynamic stress or at rest.
One of the major challenges of invasive characterization techniques is the avoidance of denaturation of complex formulations during the experiment. Nowadays, many industrial materials consist of multiple compounds (fillers, binders, thickeners, particulates, droplets, solvents, polymers, etc.) which all are in equilibrium. These interactions may be altered by invasive techniques. These are appropriated only if they enable to mimic or reproduction of processing conditions of a product during manufacturing, storage, or use conditions. On the other hand, non-invasive techniques are suitable for studying very sensitive materials or analyzing materials at rest to mimic storage conditions.
Innovative material characterization is focused on revolutionizing the status quo in materials science, with novel probing and testing methodologies that enable non-invasive assessment of the rheological properties of fragile materials, physical stability of dispersions at rest, and flow properties of materials at specific shear rates to mimic their rheological behavior.
This blog post will explore some of the innovative material characterization instruments available from Formulaction in more detail.
The Fluidicam RHEO is an innovative rheometer for ultra-precise viscosity measurements with high shear rates from 100 to 105s-1, providing analysis of complex liquids under operating process conditions. This enables accurate material characterization for inks, pigments, and paints with regard to their actual application performance (spraying, jetting, etc.).
The behavior of printer inks, for example, can be assessed by simulating the injection parameters of substantially equivalent inkjet printer nozzles. Analyzing the injectability properties of ink in this manner can improve dosing measurements for optimal pigmentation and efficiency, improving the commerciality of ink products with low sample volume requirements and rapid measuring results.
The Turbiscan is used to gather quantitative data on the physical stability of liquid dispersions (emulsions, suspensions, and foams) with regards to their aglomerating/aggregating behavior, as well as phase separation such as sedimentation or creaming. It boasts a rapid scan frequency with static multiple light scattering (SMLS) technology that works up to 200 times faster than visual bottle tests.
Turbiscan is widely used in many industries that need to control the stability of their formulations such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, foods, and many other products.
A specific instrument has been developed for the petroleum industry: Turbiscan OIL SERIES. The primary application of the Turbiscan OIL SERIES is to provide rapid, non-invasive stability measurements of both crude and fuel oils in less than 15 minutes. It can assess the stability behavior of asphaltenes to avoid clogging, plugging, and settling while heavy fuels or crude oils are processed or stored. This provides previously unparalleled degrees of accuracy and reliability for monitoring and optimizing the stability of petroleum, heavy fuels, and crude oils at the source. It is also used to measure the efficiency of additive dispersants and the effects of mechanical blending on natural hydrocarbons.
Formulaction is dedicated to disruptive innovation within the analytical science sector, providing unique non-destructive solutions for measuring the stability, particle size, phase transitions, or rheological properties of complex dispersions. Our innovative materials characterization instruments have been installed in more than 2,000 research and development facilities worldwide.
Materials characterization must be carried out with unique considerations for the characteristics of distinct materials. If you would like to perform sensitive and high-precision measurements of difficult solutions, we can provide instruments to suit your requirements. Please contact us for any more details.
