Kristin A. Marshall1 · Travis W. Walker2
ABSTRACT: A microfluidic device, deemed the Plateau-Rayleigh microfluidic extensional rheometer (PRIMER), is presented that uses a cross-slot geometry to observe a two-phase droplet-breakup event in which the viscoelastic fluid is in the dispersed (or droplet) phase. For viscoelastic fluids, we report that a cylindrical filament forms between droplet segments with a diameter that decays exponentially in time. In optically tracking this decay, both transient extensional viscosity and extensional relaxation times can be evaluated. For validating and optimizing the device, a range of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solutions and Newtonian solutions were tested. Comparisons of the evolution profiles as a result of the presence of elasticity are made, and these results are compared with the results from dripping-onto-a-substrate (DoS), another emerging extensional technique.
1 School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA
2 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD, 57701, USA
