Yield stress measurements in suspensions: an inter-laboratory study

© 2006 by The Korean Society of RheologyThe first international inter-laboratory study, involving six laboratories, has been conducted to examine issues associated with yield stress measurements in suspensions. The initial focus of the project was to evaluate the reliability and reproducibility of several common yield stress measuring techniques employed in different laboratories and with different instruments. Aqueous suspensions of colloidal TiO2 at concentrations of 40-70 wt% solids were used as the test fluids. A wide range of instruments and techniques employing both direct and indirect methods were used to determine the yield stress of the samples prepared according to a prescribed procedure. The results obtained indicated that although variations of results existed among different techniques, direct yield stress measurements using static methods produced more reliable and repeatable results than other methods. Variability of the yield stress measured using different techniques within any laboratory however was less significant than variability of the results among different laboratories. The nature and condition of the test suspensions was identified as the most likely factor responsible for the poor reproducibility of yield stress measurements from different laboratories