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Gammadot Rheology Testing & Consultancy Services
Unit 5C, Leaton Ind. Estate, Shrewsbury. Shropshire. SY4 3AP
Tel: 01939 291677 • Fax: 05600 753945 • Email: enquiries@gammadot.com

June 2007 Issue
Welcome to the (late!) 2nd quarterly newsletter of 2007. Gammadot has had a busy few months since the last issue, working on a variety of interesting projects ranging from bitumen-based compounding trials utilising rotational rheometry, to discriminating problematic particulate suspensions by mimicking the flow through a mixing head at shear rates up to 300,000 1/s using the capillary rheometer. We are pleased to announce we have again expanded the range of instruments available for contract testing with the purchase of another rheometer, and continued further investment in ancillary equipment with an additional vacuum oven and the new electric moulding press described below.
  What's in this issue...
Gammadot to exhibit at PDM '08... More 
New Reologica ViscoTech Rotational Rheometer... More
Moore 50 tonne electric moulding press purchased... More
Gammadot Services Overview... More
Gammadot to exhibit at PDM '08...
We are excited to announce that Gammadot will be exhibiting at next year's Plastics Design & Moulding exhibition at the Telford International centre, Telford, Shropshire. The event, which runs from the 15th to the 17th April 2008, is fast becoming the "Interplas of Yesteryear" and is now one of the major European polymer industry-orientated exhibitions. The stand will contain a wide variety of information relating to both standard & bespoke Gammadot services and Mark Edwards will be on hand to discuss all your rheological & materials characterisation needs - or simply drop by and pick up a complimentary Gammadot enamelled pin & pen! More Info

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New Reologica ViscoTech Rotational Rheometer...

Gammadot has taken delivery of a Reologica AB ViscoTech controlled stress / rate rotational rheometer from Infra Scientific Ltd, Reologica's UK distributor. The ViscoTech is an accurate, easy-to-operate benchtop instrument, which couples a low position resolution with a wide torque & temperature range, giving a machine with the ability to characterise a variety of materials ranging from low viscosity fluids to highly viscous semi-solids. Test programmes cover steady shear, transient (creep / stress relaxation) and periodic (dynamic oscillation) modes providing the ability to fingerprint both a material's flow & structural properties.

Said Mark Edwards, Gammadot's principal, "The addition of the ViscoTech compliments the currently used StressTech HR, (Reologica's research grade rheometer), and with both systems equipped with plate / plate, cone & plate and coaxial cylinder geometries, we are able to offer an extremely flexible rheological measurement service to industry".

Gammadot offers comprehensive rheological and materials characterisation support to the plastics and rubber industries. Services cover the application of rheology to quality control, failure analysis and process optimisation issues, to providing accurate materials property data (viscosity, PvT and thermals) for flow simulation software packages such as Moldflow and Sigmasoft 3D.

 In addition to being sole UK distributor of the Reologica range of industrial and research rheometers, Infra Scientific Ltd has a long history with particle sizing / characterisation and now acts as a UK / Eire distributor for a number of other companies, including Occhio image analysis, and the incredible value for money laser diffraction and image analysis equipment from Bettersize in China. In addition to selling the instrumentation a full contract testing service is offered on all sizing / imaging instruments.

In 2003 Infra Scientific produced the Visco Lite micro capillary viscometer aimed at ultra low viscosity measurement (ink jet printer inks, dilute polymer solutions, dilute aqueous solutions, organic solvents, hydrocarbons, biofluids, etc). The Visco Lite is the only viscometer capable of measuring from 0.1 mPas to 20 mPas with 0.02 mPas accuracy. More Info

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Moore 50 tonne electric moulding press purchased...
Gammadot has purchased a 10" square platen (single daylight) electric - hydraulic moulding press to facilitate the in-house moulding of test pieces for measurements such as PvT, Thermal Diffusivity & Room Temperature Density, which requires specimens prepared from compression moulded sheets. The modern Moore press has 50 tonne maximum pressure range (controllable in two stages), and a temperature range of ambient to 400°C enabling the moulding of commodity / engineering thermoplastics, thermosets & elastomeric compounds. A controlled cooling facility allows the temperature to be removed quickly preventing thermal degradation of the moulding and fast ejection of the finished item. The flexibility of the press also allows Gammadot to offer additional services ranging from small scale contract moulding to compression / transfer mould commissioning trials. More Info

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Gammadot Services Overview...
Capillary Rheometry
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Shear viscosity as a function of shear rate
Extensional viscosity as a function of extension rate
Shear viscosity as a function of hydrostatic pressure
Melt Density to ASTM 3835-96
No Flow Temperature
Equipment used: Magna Projects ETA2100 Capillary Rheometer, Celsum Technologies ACR2100 Capillary Rheometer
Rotational Rheometry
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Shear viscosity versus shear rate / Time / Temperature
Oscillatory Rheometry as a function of Frequency / Time / Temperature
Yield Stress Analysis (Inc. sub zero°C low temperature measurements)
Cure Kinetics / Melt Stability / Thermal Degradation Studies
   
Equipment used: Reologica StressTech HR & Reologica ViscoTech Controlled Stress / Rate Rotational Rheometers
Brookfield Viscometry
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LV / RV / 5xHBT viscometer ranges available
Full range of RV / LV spindles plus Small Sample Adaptor (SSA)
Electrically heated thermosel coaxial cylinder system
   
   
Equipment used: Brookfield LVDV-I+, RVDV-I+ & 5xHBTDV-II Rotational Viscometers
High Pressure Dilatometry (PvT)
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Specific Volume as a function of temperature & pressure
Density as a function of temperature & pressure
Bulk Modulus as a function of temperature & pressure
  Note: Gammadot Rheology is one of only two independent commercial suppliers of PvT data in the UK.
   
Equipment used: Rapra PvT Apparatus
Materials Characterisation For Flow Simulation
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Moldflow - Can provide viscometry, PvT & thermal data for MPI & MPA group tests - through filling & packing
Sigmasoft 3D - Thermoplastic & Rubber viscosity, Cure Kinetics, PvT & thermal data + modelling
C-Mold - As above
Fillcalc V - As above
Equipment used: Capillary Rheometer, PvT Apparatus, Pyris-1 Differential Scanning Calorimeter, Thermal Diffusivity Apparatus, RPA2000 Cure Rheometer

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For further information about Gammadot's testing & consultancy services, or if you have a specific problem / testing requirement which you would like Gammadot to provide a solution to, please contact us using the details at the top of the page or via the enquiry form HERE.

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