DUE:  Week 5, Friday, 5pm to me or in my mailbox in 203 Chem Sci (paper) or midnight by email (PDF).

REPORT OBJECTIVE

For your assigned polymer, please measure and report on the true steady shear viscosity at three different temperatures, as measured with the Goettfert capillary rheometer in 309A of the Chemical Sciences Building.

EXPERIMENTAL NOTES

1. Follow the rules in the safety handout and in the CM Department Safety Manual at all times.
2. If you have questions about operation of the Goettfert, please contact me (fmorriso@mtu.edu; office 7-2050; home 487-9703; cell 1-906-231-0656). If there is an emergency, dial 911 from any phone.
3. Do not exceed 220^oC.  Polymers degrade at high temperatures.  For the lower range of temperature use 20^oC above the material’s glass transition temperature or melting temperature.  You do not want to measure too close to T_g or T_m since the viscosity will be very large there and there is danger of damage to the transducer.
4. Start your experiments with the high-pressure transducer and low shear rates to prevent damage to the instrument.
5. Spread out your chosen temperatures to span the widest range of temperature possible; email me or discuss your planned temperatures with me before beginning.
6. Explore as wide a range of shear rate as possible; explain in your report what experimental factors limit the range of shear rate that is available to you.
7. Check your data for reproducibility, and be sure to discuss how you did this in your report.  Include all data in your report; if you believe some data are incorrect, explain this in your report.
8. Be sure to de-gas your polymer.  To do this, place the desired quantity in the vacuum oven overnight.  Only take out of the vacuum oven the quantity that you need for the experiment you are currently running; store all de-gassed polymer either in the vacuum oven under vacuum, in a desiccator with fresh desiccant, or in an airtight plastic bag.
9. Purchase a bound laboratory notebook.  Use the notebook to keep track of each run, including conditions of the run, conditions of the polymer, and all observations related to the equipment.  Turn in your laboratory notebook along with your report or during the first class period after the report is turned in.

REPORT NOTES

1. Your report may be as short as you can make, it providing you meet the objective you were given.
2. Please include a title, your name, an executive summary, an introduction, an experimental section (where you describe the instruments you used and how you handled your materials in the laboratory), a results and discussion section (where you describe what experiments were carried out and how they turned out), a summary, and a reference list.  You may look at articles in the journal Macromolecules for guidance on how these sections are typically structured.
3. Be sure to correct your data for end-effects (Bagley correction) and non-parabolic velocity profile (Weissenberg-Rabinowitsch correction).  You do not need to do the slip analysis (Mooney analysis), since we do not have the proper equipment for the necessary experiments.
4. In your discussion section, be sure to mention any experimental difficulties you encountered and any observations you have.  Be sure to describe the extrudate (the extrudate is the polymer as it comes out of the die).  The appearance of the extrudate may vary with shear rate; please look for this and describe it.  If the extrudate varies in color, be sure to report it.
5. If you have any suggestions for laboratory improvements, please include them in the discussion section of your report.
6. Please include your raw data in an appendix to the report.
7. You may submit your report as a printout delivered to me (fmorriso@mtu.edu) or to my CM department mailbox in room 203 Chem Sci or as a PDF file emailed to me as late as midnight on the due date.