Novel acoustical and mechanical methods for rheological characterization of the biological materials

Rheological characteristics of a material can be important for wide range of industries including food, chemical, biomedical, pharmaceutical, etc. Four novel methods using acoustical and vibrational principles were developed to meet continuous demand for novel rheological techniques. First, commonly used impedance tube technique was modified and simplified for liquids. It was shown that thick wall impedance tube can be used to measure viscosity related attenuation in liquids. This principle was also applied to the cylindrical shape containers containing selected food samples. Second method was a modified version random frequency squeezing technique. In this study this a new design allowing complex moduli measurements for wide range of frequencies and materials, is provided. In the next method flexural vibrations of the beams with free-free boundary conditions were analyzed as a viscosity sensing tool along with various applications with selected food samples. Finally, a new design using plug flow oscillation of the liquids in cylindrical shape tubes was investigated, CMC solutions at different concentrations were used as model liquids and the results obtained using this method and conventional rheometry were in good agreement.