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A high-shear, low Reynolds number microfluidic rheometer

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Abstract

We present a microfluidic rheometer that uses in situ pressure sensors to measure the viscosity of liquids at low Reynolds number. Viscosity is measured in a long, straight channel using a PDMS-based microfluidic device that consists of a channel layer and a sensing membrane integrated with an array of piezoresistive pressure sensors via plasma surface treatment. The micro-pressure sensor is fabricated using conductive particles/PDMS composites. The sensing membrane maps pressure differences at various locations within the channel in order to measure the fluid shear stress in situ at a prescribed shear rate to estimate the fluid viscosity. We find that the device is capable to measure the viscosity of both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids for shear rates up to 104 s−1 while keeping the Reynolds number well below 1.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank J. Grogan for fruitful discussions on micro-fabrication, N. Keim for help with characterization of the sensing membrane as well as G. Juarez and X. N. Shen for helpful discussions. The work is partially supported by NSF-CAREER-CBET-0954084 and by NSF-CBET-0932449.

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  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Lichao Pan & Paulo E. Arratia

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  1. Lichao Pan
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  2. Paulo E. Arratia
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Correspondence to Paulo E. Arratia.

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Pan, L., Arratia, P.E. A high-shear, low Reynolds number microfluidic rheometer. Microfluid Nanofluid 14, 885–894 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-012-1124-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-012-1124-2

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