The Microcantilever: a Versatile Tool for Measuring Fluid Properties

Silicon microcantilevers can be used to measure the rheological properties of complex fluids. In this presentation two different ways will be presented. In the first method, the microcantilever is used to measure the hydrodynamic force exerted on the sphere by a confined fluid. In the second method the measurement of the microcantilever spectrum is used to extract the hydrodynamic force exerted by the surrounding fluid on the microcantilever. In both methods, using analytical equations, the complex shear modulus of the fluid is extracted