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Filament-breaking length—a measure of elasticity in extension

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Abstract

A technique has been developed to assess elasticity in extension of fluids which are weakly elastic. The technique is based on stretching a fluid sample held between two small closely spaced co-axial disks until the fluid bridge or filament breaks. The distance between the disks on breakup, ‘the breaking length’, is measured. When the fluid is elastic, this length is greater than that of an equivalent inelastic fluid. An inelastic baseline was established by measuring the breaking lengths of a wide variety of Newtonian fluids. Measurements with weakly elastic fluids reveal that the extra breaking length increases with polymer type and concentration and with the rate of stretching, the expected behavior for elastic liquids. The breaking lengths of model paper coatings were measured and found to correlate with the degree of misting in a roll coating machine, indicating that droplet formation is related to extensional elasticity.

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Acknowledgements

Gareth McKinley of M.I.T. made us aware of the ‘filancemeter’ and pointed out that fluid strain at the breaking point goes to infinity. He also reviewed the manuscript in detail and kindly suggested ways to improve it. In our laboratory, Ayse Thomson made visual measurements of the breaking length, confirming those made using the laser beam, and Neda Felorzabihi carried out the drag reduction experiment. The support of this work by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and by the Pulp & Paper Centre at the University of Toronto is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, M5S 3G8, Toronto, Canada

    David F. James

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, M5S 3E5, Toronto, Canada

    Nanthan Yogachandran

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  1. David F. James
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  2. Nanthan Yogachandran
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Correspondence to David F. James.

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James, D.F., Yogachandran, N. Filament-breaking length—a measure of elasticity in extension. Rheol Acta 46, 161–170 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-006-0120-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-006-0120-4

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