Understanding the rheology of liquids, pastes, and melts is essential for both manufacturing performance and end-use applications across a wide range of industries. In processing environments, polymer melts and resins must be transported and shaped under shear flows, with flow behavior directly affecting success. For example, injection molding depends critically on how polymer melts flow, while molecular structure and morphology significantly influence extrusion behavior and processability. Adhesive deposition requires careful consideration of curing time and chemical reaction kinetics. Likewise, coatings such as paints and inks must be applied uniformly, at scale, and with maximum throughput.
Rheological properties also play a decisive role in high-speed processes—such as calendaring or roll-to-roll coating—where fluid behavior directly impacts throughput and final product quality. In medical device applications, fluids may serve as carriers for active ingredients, void fillers, or structural cements. In all cases, understanding rheology—and how materials interact with delivery mechanisms such as needles—is critical to ensuring reliable performance and ease of use.
Going Beyond Simple Rheology Testing
Routine testing methods often provide simple rankings of flow behavior, but most real-world fluids are highly complex and are not easily characterized with basic viscometers. This complexity applies not only to shear flows but especially to evolving systems (e.g., hydrogel gelation, adhesive curing) and entangled polymer systems (e.g., injection molding, coatings, or spraying processes where droplet formation and stringing are key concerns).
Even with a true rheometer, selecting the right experimental method and correctly interpreting results requires deep expertise. In more challenging cases, specialized tools such as the Capillary Breakup Extensional Rheometer (CaBER®) may be required. Cambridge Polymer Group’s expert rheologists design custom testing strategies, interpret results, and provide actionable recommendations for formulation optimization. Our state-of-the-art instrumentation and custom fixtures allow us to characterize materials across industries, from simple drug-delivery fluids to highly shear-sensitive drilling muds, curing adhesives, and yield-stress consumer products.
Our unique blend of processing expertise, fundamental rheology knowledge, and advanced instrumentation capabilities provides clients with the highest probability of success and the most valuable insights for material development and process optimization.
Expertise Across the Fluidic Spectrum
Cambridge Polymer Group combines decades of hands-on experience with innovative rheological techniques to deliver precise insights into fluid behavior. From low-viscosity Newtonian materials to complex shear-sensitive liquids and yielding plastics, our rheologists provide unmatched clarity into how your materials perform under real-world conditions.
Advanced Rheological Testing Techniques