Co-Author: Paul Staudinger
Anton Paar

Thorough knowledge of physical and chemical material properties is crucial for new product developments. Using conventional material research, limited research data on material characterization delivers limited answers to interesting research questions. Therefore a robotically operated rheometer was developed which fully automates all measuring steps. The High Throughput (HT) solution provides comparability to conventional rheometers while meeting throughput demands for Design of Experiments. The development of an automation solution around a conventional rheometer offers flexibility and assures high reproducibility. More complex analyses can be built due to the high throughput offered by the High Throughput Rheometer (HTR). Anton Paar’s HTR features fully automated sample loading, trimming, measurement and cleaning. The measurements are executed in a robotic cell featuring a fully automated rotational rheometer. Measurement profiles and procedures are defined and samples are loaded into the robotic cell. The robotic arm takes the sample, which is identified with a 2D datamatrix code, and applies it with the dispensing station onto the lower measurement geometry. Upper and lower measurement geometries are inserted into the rheometer and after the measurement is performed both systems are moved to the cleaning station for automatic cleaning. The measurement data and the analysis results are transferred. The measurements are performed with concentric cylinder as well as with cone-and-plate and parallel-plate geometries. Thus, samples ranging from low-viscosity liquids to paste-like materials are measured in high-throughput mode. Automated rheology has proven to be a very useful tool which helps companies to compete in modern material research. Rheological information is gained 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is immediately available for research. The presented developments for paint and coatings applications will support future material explorations in the coatings industry and contribute to the reduction of the product development cycle time.
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