Couette Shearing Cell

The NIST-SANS Couette-type shear cell consists of an inner quartz cylindrical stator (O.D. = 59mm for 1mm gap; 60mm for .5mm gap) and an outer quartz cylindrical rotor (I.D. = 61mm). Sample volumes required are approximately 11 ml to fill the .5 mm gap cell, and about 14 ml to fill the 1 mm gap cell.

The shear cell is capable of producing steady shear rates from 0.00001 revolution per second (rps) to 10 rps, with conversion factors being 389 Hz/rps for the .5 mm gap and 191 Hz/rps for the 1 mm gap cell. It is also capable of oscillatory shear (by specifying shear rate, acceleration and displacement (strain)) and time-slicing of reversible shear-induced behaviors on the order of tens of milliseconds or longer.

The empty shear cell with the stator raised (L). A 3/4" hole in the Invar interior to the quartz cup stator accomodates a 1/2" diameter incident beam on the sample. The exit side (R) of the shear cell has a larger opening in the stator to accomodate scattering from samples.

Recent publications that used the Couette Shear Cell:

"Investigating microstructure of concentrated suspensions of anisotropic particles under shear by small angle neutron scattering" Mock EB, Zukoski CF. J Rheo. 51(3), 541 (2007)
"Shear-Induced Layered Structure of Polymeric Micelles by SANS" Jiang J, Burger C, Li C, Li J, Lin MY, Colby RH, Rafailovich MH, Sokolo. Macromol. 40(11), 4016 (2007)
"Effect of Temperature on Shear-Induced Anisotropic Structure in Polymer Clay Hydrogels" Li J, Jiang J, Li C, Lin MY, Schwarz SA, Rafailovich MH, Sokolov J. Macromol. Rapdi Comm. 27(20), 1787 (2006)
"Small-angle neutron scattering of silica nanoparticles templated in PEO-PPO-PEO cubic crystals" Pozzo DC, Walker LM. Coll. & Surf. A 294(1-3), 117 (2007)
"Rheological Properties and Small-Angle Neutron Scattering of a Shear Thickening, Nanoparticle Dispersion at High Shear Rates" Lee YS, Wagner NJ. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 45(21), 7015 (2006)
"Dynamic Responses in Polymer-Clay Gels" Loizou E, Butler P, Porcar L, Malwitz M, Schmidt G. Mat. Res Soc. Symp. 840, Q2.7.1 (2006)
"SANS and XRR Porosimetry of a Polyphenylene Low-k Dielectric" Silverstein MS, Bauer BJ, Hedden RC, Lee H-J, Landes BG. Macromol. 39(8), 2998 (2006)
"Clustering and mechanics in dense depletion and thermal gels" Ramakrishnan S, et al. Langmuir 21(12), 9917 (2005)
"Shear-Induced Collapse of in a Lyotropic Lamellar Phase" Porcar L, et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 95(7), 078302 (2005)
"The rheology and microstructure of acicular precipitated calcium carbonate colloidal suspensions through the shear thickening transition" Egres RG, et al. J Rheol. 49(3), 719 (2005)

The NIST-SANS/Boulder Couette Shear Cell (BSC)