A portable extensional rheometer for measuring the viscoelasticity of pitcher plant and other sticky liquids in the field

Plant Methods
Catherine CollettD Ian Wilson

Abstract

Biological fluids often have interesting and unusual physical properties to adapt them for their specific purpose. Laboratory-based rheometers can be used to characterise the viscoelastic properties of such fluids. This, however, can be challenging as samples often do not retain their natural properties in storage while conventional rheometers are fragile and expensive devices ill-suited for field measurements. We present a portable, low-cost extensional rheometer designed specifically to enable in situ studies of biological fluids in the field. The design of the device (named Seymour) is based on a conventional capillary break-up extensional rheometer (the Cambridge Trimaster). It works by rapidly stretching a small fluid sample between two metal pistons. A battery-operated solenoid switch triggers the pistons to move apart rapidly and a compact, robust and inexpensive, USB 3 high speed camera is used to record the thinning and break-up of the fluid filament that forms between the pistons. The complete setup runs independently of mains electricity supply and weighs approximately 1 kg. Post-processing and analysis of the recorded images to extract rheological parameters is performed using open source software. The device was te...Continue Reading

References

Jan 1, 1978·British Medical Bulletin·M T Lopez-Vidriero, L Reid
Nov 1, 1959·The American Journal of Physiology·R H HAYNES, A C BURTON
Oct 20, 2006·The Journal of Experimental Biology·N KojićG H McKinley
Nov 22, 2007·PloS One·Laurence Gaume, Yoel Forterre
Apr 5, 2011·Journal of Experimental Botany·Ulrike BauerWalter Federle

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Citations

Apr 11, 2020·Integrative and Comparative Biology·Ulrike BauerUlrike K Müller

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
rheometry
rheology
shear

Software Mentioned

LabView®
Photron FastCam Viewer
Fiji
TriVision
Matlab®
Streampix6®
Excel®

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